Terra Unbound
by Yue Twili
Summary: This story is dead. I've lost my drive. Sorry everyone.
1. Split

_Hee! The what-if story is here! I thought about this after a while. And, well, here it is! _

_**Disclaimer: I don't own the Kingdom Hearts series. If I did, this would've happened a long time ago!**_

_Do not replicate this story and claim that it's yours or you will be hunted down and mauled/beaten/killed. That is all._

WARNING! Will contain spoilers for Birth By Sleep, 1, Chain of Memories, 358/2 Days, and 2.

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**Split**

It should have been an ordinary day. Or… Rather not, considering since every day isn't so ordinary with Organization XIII. But that's beside the point. The point is…

Well, let's just say something that shouldn't have happen, happened.

**The Alter of Naught**

It was here when it happened. Rather than sit at his throne all day (which is mystery if he does sit there or not), Xemnas gazed at the heart shaped moon that was Kingdom Hearts. It was steadily growing bigger each day with No. XIII and the puppet destroying Heartless, releasing their hearts.

Although, he has no idea about what'll happen that day…

"My precious Kingdom Hearts," he said to it, reaching out his hands to the celestial power, "Soon, you will be complete. And when that time comes, give me the power, the power to rule over my new world!" He smirked fiendishly as more hearts began to gather to the large mystical entity.

'_Yes,' _he thought, still with that smirk and holding his arms out to the moon, _'Roxas and Xion are making GREAT progress! It won't be long until it is complete!' _

But… he couldn't help but feel that something's going to happen… He mentally shrugged off the feeling and was about to leave. But he stopped. He reached for the zipper and pulled it down, pulling the flaps back, staring down at his chest. In the middle of chest was a fist sized keyhole shaped scar. Ever since he was found by Ansem the Wise, Braig and Dilan – back when Xigbar and Xaldin were human and still lived in Radiant Garden, renamed Hollow Bastion by Maleficent – he had this scar on his chest. No one was sure how it got there, or why, but… it seems this scar is somehow connected to his past…

"Hm," he let out, and was about to pull the zipper up when a glow from Kingdom Hearts caught his attention. "What the…" He breathed out, his eyes widened as he turned around.

The large moon-shaped heart was glowing radiantly, making the Nobody blink. Was this supposed to happen?? He then felt a sharp pain from the scar on his chest, his voice caught in his throat, closing his eyes and clutching at his chest in reaction.

'_What… What the fuck is going on here??' _Xemnas asked himself, clawing at the scar upon instinct, in an attempt to make the pain go away. He opened his eyes a little… and they widened in horror. The keyhole shaped scar… it's glowing a pale yellow light.

What is going on?? What's happening?!?

"GAH!!!" A stabbing pain pulsed through his body, causing him to hug his chest in pain. Kingdom Hearts still continued to shine but… is it becoming brighter? He hadn't noticed it… he hadn't notice anything else… his eyes couldn't leave the scar that continued to glow brightly. And the pain… was too _unbearable!_

'_**DUSKS! GET THE OTHER MEMBERS!'**_ He telepathically commanded the lesser Nobodies, knowing that they'll follow his orders. Suddenly, his body began to glow this pale yellow outline. _'What… what is…' _ Then, by some invisible force, his arms were held out to his sides, exposing the scar to Kingdom Hearts.

"W-What…" He managed to stutter, suddenly feeling a sense of horror that he couldn't move his arms, no matter how hard he tried. "I-I can't… move!" He suddenly shifted his eyes to Kingdom Hearts as it continues to glow brighter and brighter. The only thing the Superior could do is watch in utter shock as a sphere of light began to come out of Kingdom Hearts, intending to engulf him…

**Gray Room (a wee bit earlier)**

"Do-do-do-dah…" Demyx softly sings as he plays his beloved sitar. Although, even if he enjoys it (not that he could feel joy that is), the others… doesn't like the racket he makes.

"Agh… make him stop!" Xigbar complained, covering his ears in an attempt to block the sound.

"Quit complaining," Xaldin said, ignoring the sitar playing Nobody as he checked one of his spears for damage.

Xigbar silently scowled then noticed that most of the others, besides Roxas and Xion, had ear-muffs on. "AW, COME ON!!!" Xigbar shouted, a pissed off look on his face.

Saïx clears his throat and took his and Axel's ear-muffs off. "All that aside, let's put you on a mission," the bluenette stated, looking at his clipboard.

Demyx suddenly paused at playing his sitar, looking up at the ceiling. "Hm?" The mull-hawked Nobody let out, blinking in surprise.

Not noticing that Demyx has stopped playing his sitar, or anyone else at that matter, Xion was deep in her thoughts. Just… who is she? Why does she dream about this 'Sora' person? Perhaps… Castle Oblivion holds the answers… Now if only she could just—

Her train of thoughts was interrupted when she noticed something odd about Kingdom Hearts. "Huh?" She muttered softly, looking at it. Was… was Kingdom Hearts glowing?

"Hey Demyx," Axel's voice got Xion's attention, looking at Axel when he spoke to the water user Nobody, "What's with you suddenly?" Everyone else looked at Demyx, slightly perplexed that he stopped playing his sitar; Luxord took off his ear-muffs to listen to what's going on.

"Uh… I… I guess I just felt something odd," Demyx replied with a sheepish grin. The others blinked. Demyx could sense something? That's new. They were about to question him further when a Dusk suddenly appeared.

'_**My lieges, Lord Xemnas requested you immediately,' **_it told them telepathically.

"What?" Xigbar said, raising a brow at this, putting his fists on his hips. "What does he want at this time?" At this time, both Demyx and Xion turned their attention to Kingdom Hearts, the two noticing that it was getting brighter. "I mean, whatever problem he's encountering, I'm pretty sure he could handle it."

"Uh… Xigbar?" Demyx squeaked. Though, it fell on deaf ears.

"What makes you say that?" Xaldin raised a brow.

"Guys?" Xion let out, still looking at Kingdom Hearts.

"Well--"

Whatever Xigbar was going to say at this point was completely forgotten when Kingdom Hearts suddenly became engulfed in a sphere of light, followed by an unearthly shriek, loud enough to awaken the dead. As soon as the sphere disappeared, Kingdom Hearts is still where it's at, though it stopped glowing; everyone had a look of pure shock on their faces as they looked out the window. Hell, even Saïx and Xaldin are shocked. Slowly, everyone turned their heads to look at each other.

Immediately dropping what they were doing, those with ear-muffs threw them down – Saïx tossing the clipboard onto the table as Demyx and Xaldin put away their weapons – and they all opened up Corridors of Darkness to get to the Alter of Naught. The Dusk that gave them the message disappeared, having done its job.

**Alter of Naught**

After the huge flash of light from Kingdom Hearts, things were eerily quiet there. Too quiet…

Then, seven Corridors of Darkness appeared and the seven Nobodies stepped out. "Hey Xemnas!" Xigbar exclaimed after they all made their respective portals disappear. Whatever else anyone was going to saw went unsaid as they looked at the scene before them.

Lying on his back, apparently passed out, was Xemnas, his chest and scar exposed. Across from him, lying face down onto the ground in the same outfit as the organization but with a hood over their head is a person; in fact, they're lying down in front of the structure, the said thing looking cracked as if the person just crashed into it.

"…The fuck happened here??" Xigbar exclaimed as Saïx, Luxord, and Xaldin checked on their superior as Axel, Roxas, Xion and Demyx checked on the other person.

"…Who is this guy?" Roxas was the first to ask, as they examined him.

"No clue…" Axel responded to his friend's question.

"How long has that scar been there?" Luxord queried, pointing at the keyhole shaped scar on Xemnas' chest.

"Actually, I'm not sure," Xaldin honestly answered that. "It's been there even before we became Nobodies…"

Saïx raised a brow at this but shook his head. "Never mind," he said, "We have no idea who that," he looked at the unconscious person across from Xemnas, "person is. For now, we'll put them in prison and," he looks back at Xemnas, "we'll put Lord Xemnas in his room."

"Ah, I'll put the big cheese in his room," Xigbar said, picking up Xemnas with ease. The others but Xaldin stared at him, most of them shocked and the other part amazed that he could lift up someone like Xemnas. The eye patched Nobody noticed their looks and smirked. "What? You don't think I'm strong enough to lift him, do ya?" The ones that stared shook their heads. "Alright, see ya later." With that, Xigbar opened a Corridor to Darkness and went through it with Xemnas, going to put him in his room.

Silence.

"Wow. Just when you think you know a person…" Demyx commented, a small sweat-drop behind his head.

"For once, I agree with you," Axel said, also with a small sweat-drop. Xaldin shook his head with a smirk and strode over to the unconscious figure. He picked the person by the back and hefted him – since the figure is of a young man in his late teens to early twenties – onto his shoulder.

As Xaldin opened the Corridor of Darkness, both Xion and Roxas looked at the young man, his torso hanging limply at the dreadlocked Nobody's back. When Xaldin walked into the portal, they heard the man utter two words:

"Ven… Aqua…" The young Keyblade wielders blinked as Xaldin disappeared into the portal, the said portal closing after he walked through.

"… …Who are Ven and Aqua?" Roxas muttered, low enough for Xion to hear him. Xion just shrugged. Unbeknownst to the two, a certain red head perked up at the word 'Ven'.

Saïx cleared his throat once again, getting everyone else's, that are still there, attention. "In any case, do your missions for the day."

"WHAT??? Aw…" Demyx whined, slouching a bit.

"Just do it," Saïx grumbled, opening a portal, walked into it and the portal closed behind him.

"Aw…" the water user moaned, making a dejected look before going into his own portal to do his mission.

"Well… might as well," Roxas said, going into his portal to do his mission. Luxord also left to do his mission.

"…" Xion went into her own portal. The only one remaining is Axel, the pyro thinking about what he heard from Roxas.

"…Ven… where have I heard that name before?" he asked himself, putting a thumb and finger on his chin. The name 'Ven'… why does it sound so familiar? And what was that guy's connection to this 'Ven' person? Axel scratched the back of his head then sighed. Oh well, he can figure it out later. For now, he better go and do his mission.

Although, all of the Nobodies (besides Xemnas) couldn't help but think one thing:

'_What is going one here??'_

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**Indeed… the poor saps don't even know what they're dealing with! XP**

**Very short chapter, I know, but its chapter one, what do you expect?**

**REVIEW IF YOU LIKE IT!!!  
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	2. Escape

_Second chapter ya'll!_

_**Disclaimer: No ownage to the Kingdom Hearts series whatsoever. If I did so, Braig/Xigbar would be a homicidal maniac when on sugar rush. (said all that in one breath)**_

_And about the warning in the last chapter… It's a lie. Though, don't do any of that plz!_

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**Escape**

**One of the many halls of the castle**

Xigbar walked out of Xemnas' bedroom after placing the latter onto his bed. "Whew…" He muttered, wiping off imaginary sweat off his forehead. "Man, he was a bit heavier the last time I picked him up…" A portal opened near him, and Xaldin stepped out.

"How is Xemnas?" He black haired Nobody asked.

"Eh, besides being passed out, he's alright," Xigbar informed him. "At least he wasn't bleeding like last time…"

Xaldin nodded, remembering the event well. "Yes…"

"Anyways, how's the prisoner?" Xigbar decided to change the subject.

"He hasn't woken up yet," Xaldin reported. "Although, it is questionable of where he came from or why Kingdom Hearts did that…"

Xigbar just shrugged. "Dunno, but we should probably focus on our missions for now."

"Fine." Xaldin nodded then opened another portal and went into it. Xigbar was about to go on his way before looking back in Xemnas' room.

"…" He narrowed his eye before summoning a portal and stepped into it, closing it behind him.

In the room, Xemnas laid on the bed, a hand on his chest, just below the scar. The scar though, is now in the color of dark purple.

The screen faded away to the unconscious prisoner, who just flopped onto his back, exposing his face, neck and chest, his skin fairly tanned, but not as tanned as Xemnas; laying in the same position as the silver haired Nobody himself. At the middle of his chest, is a keyhole shaped scar, much like Xemnas' but colored pale yellow…

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_He… felt so weak… He never felt so weak before…But… he's got to take this chance!_

_Quickly, he used his strength to take over his body._

"_Wh-What are you… doing?!" Another being in his body demanded, shocked by this._

"_Gah!" He grunted, successfully regaining control of his body, stopping it in its place._

"_Terra, what are you doing?" His friend exclaimed, suddenly fearful of what he's going to do; he can tell by hearing her tone._

_He glared at the Keyblade gripped in his right hand; Master Xehanort's Keyblade… Straining, he willed his arm to move in front of him and moved his left hand to grasp the side of the blade._

"_I won't let you TAKE MY BODY!!" He exclaimed, using both of his hands to hold the Keyblade over his chest, in the middle to be precise, then, with the sharp part of the blade, stabbed himself right there at the spot, making a light purple flash, squeezing his eyes shut._

"_TERRA!!" She screamed, shocked by what happened._

_At first… nothing happened… He opened his eyes barely then they widened as he watched in horror when the Keyblade suddenly turned into a black goop and fell to the ground. It then spread under him and his friend, the two of them sank to their waists instantly in the dark pool._

_He struggled to get out of the pool when he heard his friend scream bloody murder. He looked up and gasped as she was sinking faster than him, having sank to her collar bone; her face is in a façade of pure fear as she reached an arm out, hoping that someone could help her, her other arm in the black mass._

"_AQUA!!" He exclaimed, struggling to get himself out of the mass to reach her. To save her…_

_Though, when he took a step, he suddenly sank to his collar bone with a gasp, his left arm submerged along with his body, his right arm out like Aqua's. He tried to shove away the black goop, trying to get the access goop off him to get to Aqua. However, the goop only sticks to him, hardening into a pair of black claws on his fingers. _

"_!!" He stared in horror at his now black clawed hand and looked at Aqua, doing a take in horror and a massive black hand rose behind her, its fingers outstretched. It then leaned forward, intending to push Aqua under the black mass, to take her to her death._

_He felt his eyes widen in horror, feeling so powerless to do anything. In one last desperate attempt, as his muscle shirt, neck, hair and his right arm being turned black like his right hand, he reached out the said hand, feeling a look of pure anguish as parts of his face had turned into black skin._

"_**AQUA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"**_

"!!!" He gasped out, waking up from the dream he just had, his arm outstretched like it had in the dream. Panting, his eyes shifted around, looking for the things that he had dreamed of. Breathing slowly, he lowered his right arm and pinched the bridge of his nose with a small groan. As he slides his hand to his chin, he noticed that something was off. WAY off.

'_Wait… what is this place?' _He asked himself, noticing the white ceiling above him. Pushing himself up, he looked around the room he was in. It seems he's in a prison of sort. _'Well, that's __**just**__ wonderful…' _He thought sarcastically.

But… wait a minute…

He looked at his hand, noticing that it's clad in a black glove, and a black bell sleeve that ended at his wrist. He then looked at himself, his body clad in a black coat that reaches to his ankles; a pair of black pants is under the coat, the bottom tucked into a pair of black boots. He also felt a hood over his head, something that he hadn't noticed before. Then he spotted a scar in the size of a fist, shaped like a keyhole; though, the scar – oddly enough – is colored pale yellow…

Pushing himself to stand up, he looked around the room again and went over to the bars. Looking out, there doesn't appear to be anyone in the hall. Although… everything around here is white with gray and silver mixed.

He shook his head. _'Wait, WAIT! What's going on here??' _He asked himself. The last thing he remembered was fighting Master Xehanort at the Keyblade Graveyard, while Ventus and Aqua were dealing with Vanitas. Then…

"That's right…" He muttered, putting a hand over his temple, resting his elbow onto his open palm, "Then that bastard possessed me. And… my armor defeated my body. After that… I managed to control my body to use his Keyblade to seal us away…" He closed his eyes, trying to figure out how he was out here…

Does this mean… that he's… free? But… wait a minute…

Placing a hand on his chest, he was shocked that he couldn't even feel his own heartbeat. "What the fuck is going on here??" He questioned. But he thought about other things.

What was he doing here? Is Master Xehanort free too? Where are Ven and Aqua? Are they alright? And most importantly… how long was he gone…?

He looked out of his prison cell again.

Well… the only way to find out is to get the hell out of here. No problem though. He can use his Keyblade to unlock the cell door and get out. With that in mind, he lifted his arm a bit and called his Keyblade to him.

However… nothing happened. Blinking, he tried again. Still, nothing. Gritting his teeth, he concentrated hard for his Keyblade to appear. All he got… was a flash of light in his palm.

His entire being shook, his face making an expression of anguish as he shook his head. No… How… how could this happen?? He can't summon his Keyblade anymore! No… he REFUSE to believe it! But… how? HOW??

Without even realizing it, he fell to his knees and looked at his hands with a blank expression, as if he didn't knew who he was anymore... Clenching his hands, making a façade of rage, he screamed as he raised his arms above him: "GODDAMMIT!!" He smashed his fists to the floor and, using a fist, started pounded the floor repeatedly.

In his temporary state of rage, he didn't notice that a dark aura surrounded him until he opened his eyes and see the aura. He looked at himself in shock. He… he still have the power of darkness? He asked himself as the aura faded away.

Then, he was struck with an idea. Even though he doesn't like it one bit, it's his only chance of getting out of here. After all, that Braig guy was able to use it to teleport himself when they battled, and able to float upside down in midair…

With that in mind, he held out his hand and closed his eyes, concentrating on forming a portal. He stayed like that for a moment. He opened his eye to see if it's working, only to find nothing. He groaned in frustration then sat down, crossed his legs and arms and closed his eyes.

How the hell could Braig do all of that? Come to think of it… how did Master Xehanort and his apprentice go around the worlds? There MUST be something that he's not getting. But… what?

"!!" He gasped, opening his eyes as he remembered something before all of this happened.

_-Flashback!-_

"_What you should been," Xehanort simply replied, walking past him._

"_?" He let out, confused by the answer._

"_You shouldn't get rid of the darkness," the old master explained, "rather, you should control it." He stopped in his place and looked at him. "With the power of darkness, you can have the power much more than Eraqus." He made a creepy grin. "Even more power than the light." He continued on his way, the young man staring at the former in total confusion. _(Uh… not sure if that part happened, so I'm winging it!)

_-End flashback!-_

After remembering that, he shook his head with a sigh. "I can't believe I'm going to take his advice…" He muttered, pinching the bridge of his nose once more. But… it's the only way he could get out of this cell. He's… gotta accept the darkness he has within him. Even though he doesn't like the idea of it…

Standing up, he once again held out his hand and closed his eyes. This time, he accepted the darkness within his being and concentrated on making the portal. He suddenly felt a shift, taking him by surprise and heard a _whoosh_-like sound. He opened his eyes and became surprised that an oval shaped portal, with black tendrils intermingling with a black and purple energy swirling at the center.

He lowered his hand, still in shock at what he saw. Then, he started to grin. It worked! It-It actually worked!! Looking back out to make sure no one else is around to see this he walked over to the portal and stopped in front of it. Raising a hand, he slowly reached out toward the portal, to make sure it's safe to go throw. His hand disappeared into the portal – making blanch in surprise – and pulled it back out. He looked at his hand, seeing that it's still in one piece. Looking back at the portal, he nodded to himself and walked into it, disappearing into the black portal, the said portal closing behind him.

**Gray Room (a bit earlier) **

Saïx let out a stressed out sigh as he plopped onto a couch. He massaged his temples, a headache forming over the horizon.

What the fuck was going on? First, Kingdom Hearts just up and glowed brightly for some reason, then, Xemnas was found passed out at the Alter of Naught along with that intruder. What else could go wrong…?

But… what did Xaldin mean by 'been there since before they became Nobodies'? Does that mean Xemnas had that scar before he became a Nobody?

Guess he should chalk that up as one of the things he doesn't know about Xemnas… In fact, no one knows who Xemnas truly is… Although… Xigbar seems a bit shady with that, since he is the Superior's friend and all…

But… now that he thought about it, when Roxas first joined the organization, he felt… so familiar… Like he met the young Nobody before… And Xemnas said something weird about 'sleep taking him again'…

Perhaps… that stranger might have some answers…

With that in mind, he made a portal to go to where the dungeon is… not knowing that the stranger is closer than he thinks…

**Betwixt and Between (with the stranger)**

Stepping out of the portal, he couldn't help but gasp at what he walked into. It was an area with multiple colors, swirling around and changing to different colors. There are symbols of an upside down hearts that looked incomplete shaped like a spiky cross; all over the place. Some of them are traveling above him to the right, and the other half are traveling to the left. Looking around some more, he took a couple of steps, not hearing a sound from his soles as they touched the ground, but could hear his coat making a swishing sound as he walked; as he walked, he didn't notice that the portal he left had just disappeared. He stopped as he looked up to the 'sky'.

'_What… What the hell is this place?'_ He asked himself.

Suddenly, he heard a whooshing sound and turned to the source, seeing a man, dressed in the same outfit as he is, stepping out of it. The man stopped when he noticed him, a surprised look upon his face then narrowed his hollow yellow eyes. "And just what are you doing here?" He demanded, the portal behind him disappearing.

He turned to the blue haired man, exposing his front to him. "…Who are you?" He queried.

The blue haired man noticed the scar on his chest, and his eyebrows rose up in surprise. "You… you're the prisoner!"

'_Prisoner?' _He repeated in his head, then narrowed his eyes under the hood. "You mean that dungeon belongs to you?!"

"Correction," the man stated, slowly walking toward him as he talked, "the entire castle, even the dungeon you were in, belongs to Organization XIII."

"Organization XIII?" He repeated, completely confused. An organization? He doesn't remember an organization being around…

"You don't know?" The scared man asked an amused smile on his face. "Hmph. No one knows of our existence. They're not suppose to." He extended his hand and in a flash, a large claymore appeared. The claymore was painted yellow and several shades of blue, with a circular, blunt end.

"Wait a minute," he took a step back, seeing the claymore, "What's going on here?? What organization are you talking about??"

The blue haired man narrowed his eyes, and with but an almost unnoticeable flick, seven short, razor-sharp spikes appeared at the club-like head of the weapon, making a _shink_ noise as they came into existence. "The less you know," he got into a fighting stance as he said the next part, "the better."

**(Hm… this calls for dramatic background music! 'A Battle of Great Valor' begins to play)**

He blanched and instinctively summoned his Keyblade, getting the flash again. _'Shit!! I forgot that I can't summon it!' _He exclaimed in his head, scolding himself for forgetting that information.

The blue haired man raised a brow when he saw the prisoner trying to summon something. _'What is he trying to call?' _He asked himself, but thought nothing of it when he charged at the other man, intending to whack him on the head. The man saw the advance and jumped back when the claymore crashed onto the ground, where he once was.

He got into a stance, narrowing his eyes under the hood. He has no choice but to use what Master Eraqus had taught him and his strength to defeat this foe. The said foe charged at him, swinging to his right to get him at the side, though he was able duck under the swing and slides his leg under his enemy's legs, though the scarred man back flipped dodging the swing, landing a couple of feet away from him.

The scared man then threw the claymore at him, though he quickly used Quick Run to dodge it and began creating a Fira spell in the palm of his right hand. Meanwhile, the blue haired man was making a spell of his own to freeze his enemy in place. When the spells are complete, they fired them at each other, however when they made contact, it made an explosion. The two shielded themselves as the blast knocked them back a couple of feet.

After the explosion, the two of them were shocked. _'He can use magic, too??'_ They both thought at the same time.

The hooded man looked around then spotted the blue haired man's claymore. Shifting his eyes at the back of him, he quickly ran to the weapon and grabbed it by the hilt. Suddenly, he felt nothing but a burning, boiling rage as his vision hazed over, like red film, and he heard a growl. HIS growl! Turning his head at the other man, he gripped the claymore tightly and ran at him, lashing out when he felt the urge. He felt metal connecting with flesh over and over again, and then in an explosion of mind-numbing fury, he let loose in a spinning attack that he couldn't believe he had performed.

The weapon vanished from his grip, and with it went the fog around his mind as he landed on the ground. He panted, suddenly tired and noticed the scarred man clutching most of his wounds. Growling, the man took out a small bottle and drowned it, his wounds closing up as he did so. The bottle dissolved into a green powder and faded away as the powder fell to the ground. The weapon came back to his hand and smacked the hooded man to the ground, the hood miraculously not falling back as this happened, landing on his back.

The scarred man the swung overhead, intending to axe his downed foe with the sharp spikes; the hooded man saw this and clapped the blunt sides and stopped it in place. The two are in a power struggle. The blue haired man leaned forward, using his weight to lower the claymore, while the hooded person pushed with all of his might to get it away from him. The two were at a stalemate in strength. Getting an idea, the young man lifted a leg and kicked the blue haired man in the abdomen as hard as he could.

The claymore wielding man coughed up some saliva, releasing his hold onto his weapon. Taking this chance, he threw the weapon away from them and tackled his stunned opponent to the ground, and socked him in the face. However, his adversary shoved him off with his feet. He managed to land on his feet while his enemy reverse rolled to his feet and called his weapon back to him.

Seeing that, the hooded man quickly thought up an idea and formed a ball made of darkness and shot it at the bluenette. The latter's eyes widened in surprise but regained his composure and used his claymore as a bat and knocked it back at the former. Eyes widened in shock, he crossed his arms in front of him to defend himself from the spell. It caused an explosion and blasted him backward. He tumbled around, finally coming to a stop, face down onto the ground, face away from the blue haired man, the hood finally off.

**(Music ends)**

The bluenette panted heavily after the battle. Whoever this person is, he's a lot tougher than he thought… Regardless, he has to take this mysterious person back to his cell. Dismissing his weapon, he walked over to the downed person. When he was only three feet away, he stopped, staring in surprise when the young man groaned and slowly began to push himself up, his head bowed.

"Well, you seem to have more endurance than you look," he mused as the young man got to his knees.

"Who… Who are you?" He panted, using his arms to support himself.

"… Saïx. Number 7 of Organization XIII," he simply replied as the young man got up to his feet. "Now tell me, who exactly are -"

Whatever Saïx was going to say at that point completely left his mind when the young man turned to him, causing him to widen his eyes in shock. The young man, despite having the same scar as Xemnas, nearly looked identical to him. However, he has brown hair and sky blue eyes, the said eyes glaring at him in the same way as Xemnas does when he's displeased about something.

"You…" Saïx took a step back, shocked. "Why do you look like Xemnas??"

"Who… the hell is Xemnas?!" The brown haired man demanded, clenching his hand.

"No…" Saïx shook his head. "You can't be Xemnas! It's impossible!"

His clenched hand quivered with rage. "I… am not…" He opened his hand and an orb of darkness started to form. "Xemnas…" The dark ball finished forming. "My name…" He fired the orb at the shocked bluenette as he yelled, "IS TERRA!!!"

The ball hit dead on at Saïx's chest, making a small explosion that knocked him back a few feet. After tumbling, he came to a stop on his back. He lifted a head to glare at Terra as he turned away from Saïx, making another portal and limped through it, the said portal disappearing after he walked through.

"Damn… you…" He uttered before his head fell back, passing out from his wounds and tiredness.

**With Terra**

Terra limped out of the portal, clutching his left arm with his eyes squeezed shut. He subconsciously closed the portal and took a few steps forward. He then tripped over nothing and landed on his knees. Though, instead of catching himself, he fell forward, his arms outward, as he panted from exhaustion, adrenaline, and his wounds.

The last thing he thought before passing out was, _'At least… I'm out of there now…' _he then let sleep overtake him…

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**XP Moon Man got owned! Saïx lovers, please don't kill me if you are reading this!**

**Poor Terra has no idea about what he's getting himself into… And only I know! XP**

**Review plz!**


	3. Friend

_*ebul grin* Oh, he's not getting out of this easily! Not by a long shot! :3_

_**Disclaimer: I own nothing. Xemnas does! Or rather Square-Enix. XP**_

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**Friend**

**Betwixt and Between**

Sometime later, a Corridor of Darkness opened up and stepping out of it was Xigbar. "Man! That was a hell of a mission!" He remarked, taking a couple of steps forward after making his portal disappear. "I wonder how everything is at the castle? Though I'm sure Saïx could handle that guy, whoever the hell he iIS!" He tripped over something and fell on his face. "What the fuck? What did I just tripped ov-" Xigbar began to say as he picked himself up and looked at what he tripped over… then screamed like a women who was screaming for help when he saw Saïx on the ground, apparently passed out.

Oddly enough, it can be heard in different worlds as the inhabitants and the Organization members were looking around in confusion.

"…The hell was **that**?" Xaldin asked himself.

Returning our attention back to Xigbar now…

After screaming like a girl, Xigbar picked up Saïx and shook him awake. "WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED MAN??" Xigbar questioned, the bluenette making a shocked look after being shook.

Saïx blinked a couple of times then looked around. The memory of what happened earlier rushed back to his head, causing him to growl in anger. "Terra…!" He growled silently to himself, shifting his eyes to search for the brown haired man.

Xigbar blinked. Did he hear that right? "Wait… what did you just say?"

Saïx shoved the eye-patched Nobody off of him as he pushed himself up. "Terra," he repeated, "That… was the prisoner's name… He somehow managed to use a Corridor of Darkness to get out of his cell." As he was standing up, his knees gave out and he fell back onto the ground.

Xigbar guessed what happened next. "And he pretty much kicked your ass, didn't he?" He smirked.

"…He looked like** Xemnas**," the bluenette clarified, his golden eyes peering into Xigbar's own yellow eye.

Xigbar didn't flinch under Saïx's gaze, but inside, he was shocked. Terra? As in the Keyblade bearer Terra? But… didn't Master Xehanort take his bo- No wait, the Xehanort that he, Xaldin (back when the two were Braig and Dilan) and Ansem the Wise found looked like Terra though he has Xehanort's name; but doesn't remember anything. In fact, he didn't respond to 'Master' or 'Terra'…

Shaking his head, Xigbar began to pick up the blue haired Nobody. "Alright, alright, let's get ya back at the castle and you can elaborate on how he owned ya," he said as he made a portal and walked into it. As he entered it though, he asked one thing no one in the universe would ever figure out:

'_What the fuck is going on here?'_

**With Terra (much earlier)**

"Hey are you alright?" A voice asked from the black abyss he's in.

Oh, wait. He had his eyes closed.

With a small groan, he slowly pushed himself from the ground and blearily opened his eyes. His vision was all blurry at first, seeing three shapes of a red, a black and an orange blurs. Blinking a couple of times, his vision cleared and the shapes formed into three teenagers, staring at him in concern.

The one in red sighed in relief. "We thought you were dead when we found you here in our hangout," he explained. On closer examination, the red one is a chubby boy wearing a short shirt with red on the torso that said 'DOG STREET' in blue words with a black dog with some bones pattern, white sleeves, a blue bandana with white designs on it around his neck, a black headband around his forehead with white outlines held his black spiked up hair from falling to his brown eyes, and a pair of baggy blue jeans, the front part of the bottom pushing out the flap in his blue and white sneakers, the back lying in the back of the shoes.

"You look like you're in pretty bad shape," the orange blur is actually a girl with chest length brown hair, parts of it at the front, a pair of green eyes filled with concern, an orange tank-top with white floral designs around the bottom, a beaded blue bracelet around her right wrist, a pair of yellow shorts that ends below her knees, and orange socks are shown from a pair of yellow sneakers; deduced, looking at the condition he was in.

Another boy, though lean and quite muscular, has blonde wavy hair spiked upward, framed by a pair of brown eyes, wearing a greenish gray vest over a black tank top with a skull and cross bones seems design, a yellow 'x' pendant hanging from his neck, a pair of camouflage long shorts, and a pair of sneakers with camouflage and white designs on it; offered a hand to him. Terra looked at the hand, at the blonde boy and back at the hand before slowly reaching his hand out and grasped it. Using his other hand, the blonde boy, with a grunt, pulled Terra to his feet; however, the young man's knees buckle and he fell to his knees, catching himself from hitting the ground. "I guess he's still hurt…" The blonde announced as they watched the older man panting heavily.

"I-I'll be alright," Terra assured them as he slowly, but surely, pushed himself up to his feet. He felt weak at the knees but willed himself not to fall over again. He took in a deep breath and exhaled, closing his eyes as he clenched his hand over his chest, concentrating.

The three kids looked at him with odd looks, wondering what he was doing. Then they cried out, "Woah!" A green aura along with plant like apparitions surrounded him and they faded away afterwards.

The eldest in the room sighed in relief. "That's better…" He muttered, rolling his shoulder to loosen his shoulder muscles.

"WOW! HOW DID YOU DO THAT??" The chubby one queried, eyes glittering as he looked up at the taller man. Terra leaned back a bit as he blinked in surprise.

"There he goes…" The blonde grumbled as he crossed his arms, making a bored look with a small sweat-drop at the side.

"Yup…" the girl also sweat-dropped at the sight.

"Uh… what?" The young man made a confused look at the black haired boy.

"YOU JUST USED MAGIC DIDN'T YA??" The boy continued, leaning forward a bit, causing Terra to take a step back from him. "THAT'S SO COOL! HOW ARE YOU ABLE TO DO THAT??"

"…My master taught me," the brown haired man responded after a moment.

"COOL! WHERE'S YOUR MASTER NOW?? I WANNA ASK HIM SOME MORE QUESTIONS!!!"

"…He's…" Terra looked away shamefully, "He's not around anymore…"

It took a moment after looking at his face to know what 'not around anymore' means, and they made sad looks, feeling sorry for the man in front of them. "Oh…" They all said.

"Sorry," the one in red apologized.

"No," Terra shook his head, "you shouldn't apologize…" He sat down on an old beat up green couch.

A moment of silence occurred, during which the three teenagers looked at each other then back at Terra. "Okay then," the blonde nodded, "You have a name?"

"…Terra."

"Terra?" The red one parroted, making a playful smirk as he scratched his head. "Isn't that a girl's name?"

"Pence!" The two teenagers scolded the black haired teen as Terra made a face, the said chubby boy making a startled look.

"It means 'earth' in another language!" Terra retorted, a little red in the face. "My father named me that for me to be strong as the earth itself!"

"Okay, okay, sorry," Pence held up his hands in defense, an uneasy look on his face.

"No," Terra sighed, "I'm the one who should apologize…" He put a hand over his temple.

The three blinked. "So… uh… I'm Hayner," the blonde introduced himself, offering his hand to Terra. The latter looked at the hand, then at the former and back at it. He then grasped the hand and the two shook.

"Well, you already know my name is Pence." Pence rubbed the back of his head sheepishly.

"And my name is Olette," the girl smiled softly at the older man, "where did you come from?"

"The Land of Departure," was the man's reply.

"Land of Departure?" Hayner parroted, titling his head to the side. The three of them gave each other looks then looked back at Terra. "Okay… if you're from there, then how did you get into our spot?" Hayner crossed his arms, staring at Terra intently.

"Actually… I'm not sure," the brunette honestly answered, scratching his head. "I remember doing something important, then I woke up in a dungeon of sorts…" He spent the next few minutes telling his tale that occurred earlier, being careful to leave out information about certain things; during the story, the three kids sat down at their seats. "…then the next thing I know, I woke up, seeing you guys." He finished.

"Wow," Pence commented, awed as he sat on a wooden crate next to an old heater. "You had no idea how you got into prison and then escaped? That's pretty mysterious…"

"Yeah," Hayner agreed, himself sitting on the nonworking heater itself. "Though, that still is a pretty cool scar." Terra looked at the keyhole shaped scar at this, with a raised brow.

"By the way," Olette began, her sitting on the other end of the couch from Terra, the aforementioned man looking at the girl, "you said that the person you managed to escape from has a black coat on right?"

"Yeah," the brunette nodded.

"Huh… Did we notice a bunch of them coming here often and take out those black creatures?" Hayner asked his friends. They nodded.

"Black creatures?" Terra repeated.

"Yeah," Pence nodded, "They're mostly small and sometimes big. But a lot of them have a weird emblem on them."

"What emblem?"

"Uh… Hang on just one second." Pence quickly got up and ran over to a corner on Hayner's right and dug through a pile of sorts. The other three gave each other looks then back at Pence as he continued to dig through the pile.

"Aha!" Pence exclaimed, having found something he's been looking for. He pulled it out and jogged over to Terra. "Here you go," he said as he handed the photo to him.

Terra delicately took the picture from Pence and brought it to his face to get a closer look at the picture. The creature in the picture resembles that of a yellow tea kettle with small legs sticking out from under it, a wizard-like hat over is black face showing hollow yellow eyes; at the middle of its body is what appears to be a black heart outlined in red, what looked like thorns made an 'x' at the center of the heart and three spikes stick out from the bottom. Also in it was a person - who was surrounded by other of those other yellow tea pot-like creatures - in the photo. The person had a hood over their head but the black coat is distinguishable; however, it was a weapon that the person is holding that caught his attention.

It looked like a big key sword with a yellow hand guard around the hilt, a blue band of sorts held the guard and the blade, which is colored gray with a 'crown' shaped tooth, and at the bottom of the hilt is a silver keychain with two small circles on top of a big circle.

There's no doubt that the weapon the person was holding, is a Keyblade. But… why was this one wearing a black coat…?

Hayner and Olette peered over Terra's shoulders to get a look at the photo, and the former whistled. "How'd you get a photo of this, Pence?" He asked, impressed.

"Well, I happened to wonder there one day and I snapped a photo of them fighting without them knowing it," Pence explained, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly.

Terra continued to stare at the Keyblade in the person's hand a while longer. Then he stood up. "Can I borrow this photo?" He asked, directed at Pence, as he showed Pence the photo.

"Huh?" Pence let out, startled. "Uh… sure. But, why do you-" He cut off when Terra stood up and went over to the curtain that acts as a door to the hangout.

"Hey, where are you going?" Olette asked, surprised by this as were her friends.

"To find some answers," was Terra's response as he pushed the curtain open and left.

The three of them stared at the curtain he just left, then at each other and back at the curtain.

"What do you think he's talking about?" Pence's question was the first to break the silence.

"Who knows…" Was Hayner's response.

**Meanwhile, in the Grey Room**

During the time Terra left to find some answers, Saïx had explained what happened to him to Xigbar.

"…and then he made a portal and went through it. After that, I fainted…" The bluenette was sitting on a couch, then finished a bottle of potion he had been drinking.

"Damn…" was all Xigbar could say now. He was sitting on a chair next to Saïx, a leg propped over his other one and his arms crossed. After a moment of silence, he asked, "Do you know where he went?"

"You think **I** know??" Saïx asked rhetorically, "He could be **anywhere** by now."

"Well," Xigbar smirked, "so this is how the mighty dealt with defeat, huh?"

"I underestimated him!" Saïx insisted, snarling at the eye-patched Nobody. "I WILL NOT make that mistake again!!"

"Right sure," Xigbar shrugged, "that is IF we can find him."

"Find who exactly?" A familiar voice asked, from the entrance to the Grey Room; Saïx and Xigbar turned to the source, a shocked look on their faces.

**With Terra (but sort of around the time Saïx was done explaining to Xigbar)**

"Excuse me," Terra began as he showed the picture to a chubby man with brown hair and mustache, a green and yellow jacket, a pair of orange pants and brown dress shoes, "but have you seen this person?"

The man rubbed the back of his head as he looked at the photo. "Hm… Can't say I have…" He muttered.

"Then… have you seen a boy with blonde hair spiked upwards to the right, and blue eyes? Or a girl with blue hair and blue eyes?"

The man he questioned rubbed his chin at those descriptions. "I'm afraid I haven't seen people with those descriptions, son," he apologized, being sincere at those words.

Terra sighed, slumping over in disappointment. "I see… Thank you though." He then walked off toward a direction.

The man watched the brown haired young man walk off in a direction he knew. "Well… he certainly won't find anyone in the Sandlot…" He muttered to himself then walked away.

**Sandlot**

Walking in from the entrance of the Tram Common section of the town, Terra walked over to a bench next to a billboard and sat down. He sighed, propping his elbows onto his knees and cupped his chin into his hands. "I've spent all day searching for that person in the photo, as well as Ven and Aqua," he muttered, "but… nothing…" He looked at his feet as he sighed again.

As he looked at his feet, he didn't notice three people approaching him; but even if he did, he ignored them. He only perked up when one of them asked:

"So how did your search go?" Terra looked up and saw Hayner, Pence and Olette in front of him, though the sole female was carrying something in a plastic bag; Hayner's the one who asked the question.

The brown haired man sighed for, like, the 40th time that day. "Not so well…" He replied, looking back at the ground.

"Ah," Hayner said simply.

It was silent for a moment.

"Well… was there anyone else you were looking for?" Olette asked, breaking the uncomfortable silence.

"…My friends," was his response.

"Well… what do they look like?" Pence asked, "Maybe we've seen them."

"… …Ventus, or Ven as we call him, has blonde hair spiked up to the right with blue eyes, and maybe around your age, and Aqua has blue hair and blue eyes, and she's around 17 to 18."

The three teenagers gave each other surprised looks and looked at Terra. "Terra… We met someone with the description of your friend, Ventus." Olette was the one who responded.

Terra looked up. "Really??"

"Yeah, but," Pence made an uneasy look, "his name was **Roxas**, and he's wearing the same coat as you and that person in the picture."

Terra, who felt hopeful if they really did see Ven, made a dismayed look at the information. "I see…" He sighed, going back into depressed mode. Now where else is he suppose to look? Though… there is that hole in the wall in the Tram Common that leads to the woods… He hasn't checked it out yet. So maybe he should-

"-break." Hayner's voice brought him back to reality.

"Huh?" He let out, looking up at them.

"I said, 'You could use a break dude'," he repeated, grinning little a bit, as Olette dug into the bag.

The brown haired girl pulled out four ice cream bars on popsicle sticks, from the bag, in paper wrappers. She then handed one to Terra. "Here."

Terra looked at the ice cream bar curiously then took it from her. The two boys took the ice cream bars of their own, leaving Olette with one, and the three of them sat down on the bench with Terra as they took the wrappers off, revealing the bars to be light/sky blue, they silently ate the bars. Terra still looked at the bar curiously.

Seeing the look, Pence explained, "It's called Sea Salt Ice Cream. It's really good." For emphasis he took a large bite, making a content look as he munched it. "Mmm…"

Seemingly convinced, Terra took the wrapper off and nibbled it. He drew back from it, a surprised look on his face. "It's salty…" He commented, "But… it's sweet too…"

"Yeah, that's what makes it delicious," Hayner grinned, already at the half-way point with his.

"Hm…" Terra let out, eating his ice cream, obviously liking it. The three chuckled a little at Terra's antics. The four of them ate their ice creams in peace for a bit.

Terra ate his at the half-way point. "Maybe I should go check out that hole in the wall…" He said to himself.

"Mm?" Pence let out, the rest of the ice cream in his mouth. He pulled the stick out of his mouth after the ice cream melted in his mouth. "Are you talking about the hole in the Tram Common?"

"Yeah," Terra replied, eating the upper right part.

"Well, that leads to the woods outside of town," Olette informed him, her ice cream a few inches from the top.

"And in those woods is the Old Mansion," Hayner finished, having finished off his ice cream before any of them did.

Terra broke off a piece of his ice cream, the said treat at its end. "Really…" He said, mouth full of the piece he's eating. Smacking his lips, he continued, "I guess that's the only place I haven't looked yet." Putting the stick in his mouth, he finished off his treat. And just in time too, when four people entered the Sandlot.

"Hey, what are you three doing here on our turf??" The four of the bench looked at the source, seeing four people. The one who spoke up is a blonde boy with green eyes, a free strands of his hair sticking out of a black beanie, a right diagonal scar in-between his brows, a blue halter top showing off his abs a little under a silver sleeveless cloak with a black collar, baggy blue pants with a string to hold it up with the bottom tucked into a pair of black and white boots.

"Seifer…!" Hayner growled, the two glaring at each other as Pence and Olette gave the other group wary looks. Terra looked confused by this as he pulled out the stick from his mouth.

A tanned muscular boy, around the same age as Seifer, with dark brown hair and eyes with a bit of fuzz on his chin, a red tank top with black swirled designs around the shoulders, a lightning bolt charm necklace around his neck, a pair of red and white wristbands, black baggy pants and a pair of red and white sneakers; was the first to notice Terra. "Hey, who's that with them, y'know?" He asked, pointing at the brown haired man.

The other three turned their attention to him. Seifer snorted. "What's he doing going around in that outfit?"

"Strange," a girl, an albino perhaps for her pale skin, white hair and a crimson eye shown on her left, a turtle neck blue vest, a pair of tan caprice pants, and a pair of blue and white sneakers; commented, pointing at Terra with a monotone voice.

A small boy, with a big yellow pointy but bended magician hat with a swirled pattern on the right side with an odd looking star on the left, an open zipper under the patterns made it look like it had a face that covered his face, making it black with yellow eyes showing, a blue string tied coat with two big pockets on the front with folded up cuffs showing his brown gloves, a pair of brown pants can be shown and a pair of brown shoes; looked at Terra curiously, or more accurately, the scar on his chest.

Seifer chuckled. "Hey buddy, isn't it a bit too early for Halloween?" He teased, earning a bored look from Terra.

"Hey, don't you and your cronies have something better to do?!" Hayner demanded as he stood up, not wanting to be in Seifer's presence.

"Yeah, and leave Terra alone!" Pence added.

"Terra?" Seifer repeated then burst out laughing. "Isn't that a girl's name??"

"Silly," the silver haired girl added. Terra's cheeks were a bit red from both embarrassment and anger.

"Hey Seif, I think he's getting mad, y'know?" The tanned boy commented, seeing the look.

"I doubt it," Seifer retorted, wiping a tear from his eye, "I mean, I'd be embarrassed too if I had a girl's name!" Then he resumed laughing, the tanned guy joining in too while the silver haired girl chuckled.

Terra's eyes narrowed, turning bright with rage filling inside him while Hayner and his friends looked appalled by Seifer and two of his friends making fun of Terra. The only one not laughing is the little boy in Seifer's group. He twiddled his fingers nervously as he looked between the two groups. Then he got an idea. "Um… Is he strong?" He asked meekly with a bit of a high pitched voice.

The got Hayner, Pence, Olette, and Terra to look at him curiously while Seifer and the other two popped their eyes open as they stopped in mid-laugh.

"What makes you say that Vivi, y'know?" The tall guy asked, as he, the girl and Seifer looked at him curiously.

"Well… he looks strong," Vivi replied, then looked at Terra, "Maybe stronger than you, Seifer."

"What?? No way he's stronger than me!" Seifer denied, making a pissed off look.

Hayner's group blinked in confusion then Hayner got a _ding_ moment. "I dunno Seifer," he began, putting his hands behind his head, "Looks can be deceiving. In fact, I did kick your ass one time." At that part, he grinned.

"YOU CHEATED THAT TIME!!!" Seifer screamed, pointing at Hayner with a pissed off look though his cheeks are red.

"Cheated," the girl repeated.

"Yeah! What Fuu said, y'know?" The tall guy agreed.

Seifer gave the tall guy a bored look. "Would you **stop** saying 'y'know' all the time Rai?"

"You don't want to admit that you lost that time Seifer," Hayner retorted, a coy grin on his face.

"FUCK YOU!!" Seifer screamed, though Fuu managed to cover Vivi's ears that time.

Terra just watched in confusion then he had a _ding_ himself. He smirked. "Alright, why don't you prove it?"

Seifer grunted. "Alright fine!" He waved his arm to Fuu. "Fuu, get the Struggle bats!"

"Right," Fuu nodded then went off to get the said items.

_A few minutes later…_

Seifer and Terra stood at opposite ends in the Sandlot, each holding a stick with blue plastic foam around the top in their right hands. Seifer smirked arrogantly. "Try not to cry when you lose, _Terra,_" he commented, pointing his Struggle Bat at Terra and waved it around a bit, mockingly saying 'Terra' to mock him.

Terra narrowed his eyes. "I'm not planning on it," he retorted, bending his knees slightly, his right arm arched back with his left arm in front of him.

Pence and Olette had buckets of buttered popcorn in their hands and are eating out of them it. Hayner, Fuu, Rai and Vivi noticed this and started to wonder where they got those from. "…Are you going to share those?" Hayner asked.

"No," they both replied, putting a couple in their mouth.

It started…

The two of them charged at each other and swung, their bats colliding. The two tried to overpower each other – though, Terra was holding back on him – by pushing each other with their strength. They then jumped back and Seifer charged, yelling a battle cry. Terra brought up his club to block the attack then shoved the blonde off him. He made a vertical slash at the blonde, but Seifer blocked it and pushed Terra away and made a swing at him, but the brunette managed to duck in time and made an uppercut at him, though Seifer managed to dodge it at the last second, though it did managed to nick the tip of his nose.

Furious, Seifer began an onslaught, swinging wildly at Terra. The latter, though, just blocked and dodged them effortlessly. The two groups watched in awe/shock as they watched the fight. Though Fuu and Rai are the only ones shocked that their leader couldn't land a blow on that guy. Vivi, Hayner, Pence and Olette were amazed by how Terra fought against Seifer; it was as if the older brunette had fought against a lot of things his whole life!

As Seifer lashed out wildly, he managed to find an opening and took the chance and lashed at Terra's side. "Ugh!" He cried out, when Seifer hit the spot where it seemed it didn't recover all the way.

Seeing this, Seifer smirked and was about to launch another attack; however, Terra made a fierce scowl.

That's it! No more holding back!

With a roar, Terra swung his bat and hit Seifer's hand, disarming him of his weapon. Seifer made a shocked look as his bat went flying to the wall and Terra pointed his weapon at him, just as the bat hit the wall and cluttered to the ground.

Terra panted slightly, glaring daggers at the beanie wearing boy, who still had a shocked look on his face. The others in the sidelines were also shocked. The older brunette lowered his weapon and looked away. "It's done…" He muttered.

"WOAH!! That was so cool Terra!!" Pence exclaimed, stars glittering in his eyes as the three of them ran up to Terra while the other three went to Seifer, who fell to the ground in defeat.

"Holy crap dude! I never knew you had moves like that!" Hayner admitted, grinning up to the older brunette.

Terra shook his head. "I'm not that good."

"Hey Seifer, you okay, y'know?" Rai asked, concerned for him.

"Yeah," Seifer grumbled, pissed that he lost.

Terra nodded. "Even though you are pretty cocky, you're pretty good," he commented, handing the Struggle Bat to Hayner.

"Yeah, well, I only held back on you," Seifer insisted, trying to save his pride as he turned his face to look smug.

"Really?" Terra smirked, "Well… if you were holding back, I was holding back, too."

"What??" Seifer exclaimed, shocked about Terra's statement.

"Yup." Terra nodded. Then he remembered something. "Oh yeah, I almost forgot," he muttered as he dug into his pocket and pulled out the picture he borrowed from Pence. "Here."

"Hey my photo!" Pence exclaimed as he took it. Looking it over, he sighed in relief. "Good, it's not damaged at all. Thanks Terra."

Terra nodded. "Thanks for the ice cream you guys," he said to Hayner and his friends, "But now I gotta go and check out that 'mansion' you guys mentioned."

"I seriously doubt you'll find anything there!" Seifer exclaimed, hearing what Terra said to the kids.

The older brunette shrugged. "Can't hurt to try. See you guys later," he waved at Hayner and his friends as he walks off to the Tram Common sector, where the infamous hole is.

"Later Terra!" Pence exclaimed as he, Olette and Hayner waved their own ways. "Hope you'll join us for another round of ice cream soon!"

"Looking forward to it!" Terra shouted back and was finally out of sight. As he walked to the hole, he made a small smile in spite of himself. Although he couldn't find his friends, or have any idea of what's going on, those three… somehow gave him hope.

Which is a shame that he didn't realize of what's to come in the woods…

**Where Nothing Gathers (during the time Terra and Seifer fought)**

Xigbar had a look of nervousness as he sat onto his chair, waiting for Saïx to come in along with the other members who have returned from their missions. He shifted his eye to look at the seat above him, seeing their Superior awake as he sat patiently with his eyes closed. His eye shifted to the dark purple keyhole shaped scar on the man's chest.

To the eye-patched Nobody, nothing seems to surprise him anymore… though on some occasions, he did get surprised every now and then (not that they can feel surprise that is). It only had been months since Roxas – who strangely resembles that Ventus kid from ten years ago – and Xion had arrived. Those two were full of surprises, though, he couldn't help but be reminded of Ventus whenever he's around Xion. And then there's Terra. Xigbar always had a feeling that there's probably more to Xehanort than meets the eye, since he resembles Terra except he had brown hair and blue eyes instead of silver hair and yellow eyes and tanner – which later turned snow white and brown – much like Master Xehanort…

Though, Xemnas forced Xigbar to spill the beans when they were alone. After telling him the story, all Xemnas said after a moment of silence was, "I see…"

Xigbar had a feeling that he's not out of hot water yet…

At that moment, Xemnas' eyes opened, just as the others came in.

"HOLY CRAP! YOU'RE AWAKE SUPERIOR!!" Demyx exclaimed, surprised.

"Yes, we're well aware of that…" Xigbar muttered sarcastically, not in the mood to hear the water user.

"Anyways, what's up?" Axel asked, peeved that their hanging out time was cut short for this.

Everyone looked up at their Superior expectantly. "…It has come to my attention that… an intruder somehow got into the castle," he stated, "as Saïx and Xigbar explained. However, we know little of that intruder." He purposely left out the part that Xigbar knew the intruder. "But… as all of you were doing your missions, he somehow escaped."

"What??"

"You serious?!"

"Really??"

"How?!?"

Were the responses from Xaldin, Axel, Luxord and Demyx (in that order). Xemnas ignored them and looked at Saïx. "Saïx, if you would."

Saïx solemnly nodded. "I, too, was shocked that he escaped when I found him in the Betwixt and Between," he explained. "He somehow was able to use the Corridors of Darkness to escape. The two of us fought, but…"

"He kicked your butt, didn't he?" Axel guessed.

Saïx narrowed his eyes at his old friend. "I underestimated him," he insisted, "He was far stronger than I thought."

"That guy? Stronger??" Demyx meeped, chewing on his fingernails after taking his gloves off, sweating a little.

"And after that, he escaped completely?" That wasn't a question from Xaldin.

"Yup, pretty much," Xigbar was the one who answered, "Because when I came by later, that guy was nowhere to be found and ol' Saïx was passed out."

"…Then that scream was you?" Axel asked, weird-ed-out for hearing that girly scream. It seemed even Xaldin, Demyx, Luxord and Roxas were also disturbed by hearing it.

"…" Xigbar pointed one of his Arrowguns threateningly at Axel.

"O-Okay! I won't press it!!" Axel stuttered, holding his hands up in defense, sweating bullets behind his head.

"Good." The eye-patched Nobody dismissed his gun. The others also sweat-dropped but Demyx became afraid of the space warping Nobody.

"In any case… what do you want us to do Superior?" Luxord asked, whipping out his cards and used them like a fan.

"…Continue your missions," was his response, "But. If you were to see him on the world you are on… detain him."

"You mean capture him Superior?" Xaldin raised an eyebrow at the demand.

"Yes. Do whatever necessary to capture him, and bring him here," Xemnas continued, "but whatever you do: Do. Not. Kill him. Is that clear?"

Most of them were a little shocked at that but nodded, though Demyx does so hesitantly, not really wanting to take on the man said to be more stronger than Saïx.

"Good. You are dismissed." At that, all of them, but Xigbar and Saïx left the room, leaving the two with Xemnas.

"Uh…" Xigbar began, looking at the two of them.

"I've told Xion that either Axel or Roxas will brief her on the situation," Saïx told them, as if sensing the question.

"Well… uh… good, but, uh… Am I still in trouble?" Xemnas glared at him after that statement.

"We will discuss this later," Xemnas said with a tone of finality, narrowing his eyes. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have some business to attend to." With that, he teleported from the room, leaving Saïx and Xigbar alone.

"Uh… maybe he wants some alone time…" Xigbar muttered, rubbing the back of his head. Saïx gave him a blank stare then teleported out of the room as well. Once he was alone, he sighed then looked up at the ceiling.

"…What the hell is going on?" He asked the one question no one will figure out… for a while…

**

* * *

**

**The end of chapter three. **

**O_o Man… that took a lot longer than I thought… But even though he made some new friends, Terra will feel grief that he hadn't felt before…**

**If you want to know what I mean, then stay tuned for the next chapter! See you then; and please review!! ;)**


	4. Guilt

_Dun, dun, dun!!!!!!!!!!! The part that I was waiting for!! I actually planned this scene for a while._

_**Disclaimer: …If I owned the Kingdom Hearts series, no one would be in this mess… But I own this story, the plot, and some OCs that might, I repeat, **__might__** appear in this fanfic.**_

_**READ THIS!: I don't care if Terra and Mickey didn't meet in Birth By Sleep, in my story they did; and that Mickey didn't appear until later on in 358/2 Days! Nuff said!**_

**

* * *

Guilt**

**Woods**

Unaware of what's going on at the Castle That Never Was, Terra entered the woods through the hole in the Tram Common area of the town. Looking around the woods carefully, he covered his head with the hood – a part of him told him to do so, so he could avoid detection from anyone – from the coat he's wearing; as he did so, he looked down at his semi-bare chest, showing the scar in the middle. He was about to pull the zipper up to cover it when he head a sound.

Footsteps.

Not sure if it's a friend or foe – and not taking any chances if it's either the former or the latter – he looked around the area and spotted a tree wide enough to hide behind it. He quickly ran behind it and pressed himself against it, making sure that no one could see him at the entrance to the hole or at the path that leads to another area in the woods.

Peering out from behind his hiding place, he saw a small figure walking into the clearing. No, really, the figure is like around two feet tall; the figure is also wearing a black coat like he and that Saïx person, and has two big round ears on top of its head, a thin whip-like tail could be seen sticking up from under the coat. Anyways, the figure walked in the crossroad of the woods then stopped, looking around the area, as if looking for something.

Narrowing his eyes a bit, Terra studied the person. For some odd reason, there's something… familiar about him… Finally recognizing the shape, he blinked with his mouth agape. "…Mickey?" He muttered.

In his stupor, he didn't realize that there's someone else besides him and Mickey, for he was suddenly punched in the face by that someone, landing in a heap in clear view, onto his side. Strangely enough, the hood didn't fall off his face.

The person, who Terra identified as Mickey, turned to the source and saw a person on the ground, in a black coat. Thinking of him as a threat, he got into a fighting stance and a flash of light appeared, forming into a key shaped sword with the blade colored gold, the teeth in a shape of a crown, the handle around the hilt white, the band that held the blade and hilt together red, and the keychain is colored gold with the main one in three circles shaped like a mouse's head; ready to fight if this person does anything suspicious.

Terra, meanwhile, pushed himself up a bit with a groan and rubbed his sore cheek, wincing when he felt it was swollen a bit. He was about to cast a Cure spell when he heard something being summoned; he looked to the source, only to see a tip of a blade pointing at his face threateningly.

"Alright, what number are you and why are you here?" The owner of the blade demanded. The blade looked like a bat wing in dark blue at the blade, red at the 'flaps' and a blue eye at the top of a black hilt. Terra looked up at the person holding the blade, seeing a boy that looked like he's 15-16, bluish-silver hair that goes to his shoulder blades in layered spikes, his fridge covering his forehead well but spared his ears, though he had a black blindfold over his eyes for some reason and a black coat on. Also for odd some reason, the boy looked familiar as well.

"…"

"…" The boy slowly lifted his hand to the blindfold and moved a bit of it off his left eye and opened it, revealing it to be bluish-green, and seemed to examine him. His eye then set itself on the keyhole shaped scar on Terra's chest and narrowed it. "The other members don't have that scar…" He muttered, closing his eye and replaced the blindfold over it.

"…What? What are you talking about? What do you mean by 'members'?" Terra questioned, getting steadily confused by the minute.

Mickey did a take at the voice. "Terra? Golly, is that you??" He took his hood off, revealing his peach colored face with the rest of it black as well as his ears, nose and eyes.

Terra sighed then took off his own hood. "It's nice to see a familiar face at last…"

The King jumped a little. "Well I'll be a monkey's uncle! It really is you!!"

The boy lowered his sword and looked at Mickey, confusion written on his face. "You know him?" He asked, surprised that the King knew this person.

"Oh, right, I never mentioned him to you, I guess," Mickey commented then chuckled. He turned to Terra, who stood up. "Terra, this is Riku," he introduced the brunette to the other boy, using his hand gestures, "Riku, this is Terra."

At 'Riku' the older human stared at the boy in shock. "You… You're Riku?!" He exclaimed, pointing at him.

Under his fridge, Riku raised a brow. "Yeah? What of it?"

"But… you were five when I last saw you!!" Terra took a step back from Riku.

"Wait… you and I met before? But I don't remember you," Riku tilted his head to the side. "Or… at least I don't think so…"

"But… how…" Terra was at a loss of words. How can this be? Wasn't this boy a child when he last saw him?

"By the way, where have you been this whole time Terra?" Mickey asked, "I haven't seen you since your group's battle with Master Xehanort and Vanitas ten years ago."

"What?? Ten years?!" Terra exclaimed, "But… I… AUGH!" He clutched his head with both hands, as if he had a headache. "What the fuck is going on here?!?"

"Um… maybe you should explain what happened to ya, up until now," Mickey suggested, seeing the distress on the brunette's face.

"Y-Yeah! That's sounds good…" Terra muttered, still with a hand on his head; Riku, meanwhile, looked confused by everything that he heard.

And so, Terra told Riku of his tale (with the King explaining some things to Riku) about being a Keyblade Apprentice to a Keyblade Master named Eraqus, living on a world called the Land of Departure while training under him, later being joined by his friends Aqua and Ventus, then taking the Master Qualification Exam – or MQE for short – with Aqua, though she passed, then left to search for their master's old friend and fellow master, Xehanort, while taking out creatures called Unversed, going to a bunch of worlds and around the end, the three of them regrouped at a world called the Keyblade Graveyard to take on both Master Xehanort and his apprentice, Vanitas, the former telling the trio that he plans on using Kingdom Hearts to unleash the forbidden secrets of the Keyblade War to the worlds, by using Ventus' heart to gain the final form of the Keyblade, the X-Blade, to unlock Kingdom Hearts; and to that end, Master Xehanort needed a body to insure that he could see his plans through, choosing Terra as his vessel. They all battled, though in the end, the corrupt Keyblade Master managed to possess him by transferring his heart into his body, though his armor came to life and battled his possessed body.

"After that, my body must've fainted," Terra continued to explain, "because I then found myself in Radiant Garden, though Xehanort is still controlling my body and Aqua found me. They battled but I managed to regain control of my body, and used his Keyblade to seal the both of us away. Then… nothing after that; though, the next thing I knew, I woke up in a dungeon of sort, escaped from there and battled a person named Saïx then came here, where I met three kids and now, here we are."

"Wow…" Was all Mickey just said, stunned. Riku was pretty much stunned as well. "So you don't know what happened to Aqua then?"

"Huh? What do you mean?" Terra asked, confused. Did something happen to her? Then a thought hit him. "Wait a minute, what happened to Ventus??"

Mickey had an uneasy look on his face. "Um…" Terra suddenly grabbed his shoulders and shook him.

"Tell me! What happened to Ventus and Aqua??" The brunette demanded, desperate to know what happened to his friends.

"Hey, knock it off!" Riku shoved Terra off the small king, who became a little dizzy after being shaken.

"But…!"

"Terra, please calm down," Mickey sighed, putting a hand on his head. "As much as I wanted to tell you… you won't like the news…"

"Mickey… I have to know…" Terra muttered, his blue eyes glazing over, "I… I need to know what happened to them…"

After looked at his face for a while, Mickey sighed then hung his head. "Alright," he said reluctantly. Looking back up, he began, "It seems that, while you were taking on Master Xehanort, Vanitas managed to knock out Aqua; though, it seemed that she took on someone else that got her to be knocked out. But anyways, the dark apprentice would've killed her if Ven hadn't intervened. It seems that not only Vanitas is Ven's darkness but also the source of the Unversed; but anyways, Vanitas then possessed Ven and created the X-Blade. I healed Aqua and the two of us took on the possessed Ven; it was an arduous battle but Aqua managed to destroy the X-Blade."

Terra silently listens to the story, but… what's this unease that's suddenly building up in his chest?

"The X-Blade, though, suddenly unleashed a burst of bright light and consumed everything," the King continued, "I managed to save Aqua and Ventus, but… it seems your body was caught in the explosion. I took them to Master Yen Sid's tower to recuperate, but… for some reason, when Aqua awakened, Ven didn't."

"Why's that?" Riku asked, though he, too, also has a feeling of unease.

Mickey sighed again. "…Master Yen Sid explained that, Ventus managed to defeat Vanitas within his mind but… at the same time with Aqua destroying the X-Blade, Ven lost his heart; his body became comatose, and will not wake up until his heart returns to him…"

"!!" Terra and Riku gasped, their eyes widening at the news.

"After that, Aqua took Ven's body to hide him… And that's the last I saw of them…" Mickey finished, a sad look appearing on his face as he said the last sentence.

The two boys became silent.

Riku was thinking that it's somewhat similar to what happened to Kairi when she lost her own heart…

Terra, though, is a different story, his brain reeling with the information. He didn't want to believe it. His brain was rejecting what he heard. Ven… Ven is… gone? No! It couldn't be!! But… what of Aqua? What happened to her?! Did she flee after he sealed himself and Xehanort away?

As he tried to come up with an explanation, the dream he had earlier came to mind. The dream about… him and Aqua sinking into a black goop of sort and a large black hand came out of the goop, as if intending to take her under…

He tried to figure out what it mean when suddenly his head was hit with a flash of intense pain that failed to go away. "_**AGH!**_" He cried out, clutching his head with a hand, getting startled looks from Riku and Mickey.

"Terra, are you okay?!" Mickey cried out, worried about the brunette.

He couldn't answer… He was in too much agony to form a sentence. The pain became worse, making him clench it with both hands, grimacing tightly. His body began to twist this way and that in a distressed spasm. "_GAH!_" He managed to let out, throwing his head back, losing his balance and falling to his knees. He caught himself before he could completely fall to the ground, grabbing a fist full of grass. He felt like his head was about to explode! Making small grunts of pain, he squeezed his eyes shut, the pain making him unable to open them…

**With Xemnas (around the time Mickey told Terra about what happened to his friends)**

"…" Xemnas stared at the empty armor with a Keyblade in front of him as he sat in the chair in the middle of the Chamber of Repose. "…Someone you know told me that this armor belonged to you… I have no idea about where you are, truly. I don't even remember your own name…"

"But… for some reason or another, I feel… comfortable around you," Xemnas had a thoughtful look on his face as he said that, tilting his head to the side. "If I could find the Chamber of Wakening… will I have my answer?"

He went silent, as if waiting for an answer from the suit of armor. After a moment, he sighed then stood up from the seat. "I have to go now," he told the armor, "I'll return whenever I can…"

He then walked out of the room and into the hall, not bothering to use a Corridor of Darkness to go back to the castle. As he walked, he racked his brain to try to remember his past some more. He couldn't place his finger on it, but… when he brought Roxas into the Organization, he looked… familiar. Why was that?

Also, he had a feeling that there's something Xigbar's not telling him. Sure he told him of his true identity and stuff, but… he didn't tell him the names of his 'friends', and so much more…

Just as he was about to exit the hall, his head, like Terra's, was suddenly struck by a flash of intense pain. "_**AGH!**_" He at first held his head with a hand – grimacing tightly – then used the other hand to clutch it as it got worse. He let out pained grunts, not able to make coherent words due to the agony he was in. He felt weak at the knees, but willed himself not to fall

"A… A… _ARGH!_" He stuttered, his body twisting this way and that in a distressed spasm; a part of him was really, _really _glad that no one else is around to see him like this. He kept his eyes squeezed shut, for the pain has made it impossible for him to open them…

_

* * *

Falling…_

_Why… is he falling?_

_He blearily opened his eyes and fully opened them in shock when he noticed he was falling in a dark tunnel. But that's the _third_ thing he noticed. The _second _thing he noticed was a bright light in the distance; the _first _thing he noticed was a person clad in armor riding on a vehicle of sorts and was flying at him. He tried to open his mouth to say, well, anything, but… his voice won't work! And he also found that he couldn't even move his limbs either!_

_The sound of an engine accelerating brought his attention back to the person clad in a silver, blue and gray armor as they speed up to him._

_Wait… he knows this person! _

_When the person is close to him, they reached out and grasped his right hand, his other arm and legs now dangling in the tunnel. Then the person – or she when she grunted – hefted him over her front as she turned the vehicle to light above them and sped toward it. Though, he noticed that the ship was slowly starting to descend with them on it._

"_Only one of us can make it out of here…" He heard her mummer to herself. Shifting his eyes to try to look at her, he wondered what she meant when suddenly it hit him. _

_No… she wouldn't!_

_A sphere of light surrounded the ship and the ship itself disappeared, though the armor is still holding on to him. Before him was a beautiful girl with short blue hair in the color of water with eyes the same shade as her hair; his eyes widened as she floated along with him, a familiar gray and blue Keyblade in her hand. Gently she took his right hand and put her Keyblade into it. "Take this," she ordered, pushing the fingers so he could grasp the hilt._

_Still holding onto his hand, she went as close as she could to him. He blinked confusingly at her but his eyes widened when she placed her lips unto his own. A sphere of blue light surrounded him and the armor holding him and she drew away from him; she then waved her arm and yelled, "GO!"_

_He and the armor holding him flew away from her and toward the light above them. As he was getting closer to the light, the girl was farther away from him. He felt his eyes watering up and he managed to move his left arm to try to reach her._

"_A…qua…" He heard himself saying before everything went bright…_

Terra snapped his eyes open with a small gasp. The sudden migraine he got was gone but… he didn't worry about that.

"Terra, are you alright now?" Mickey asked the brown haired Keyblader when he didn't respond for a few moments.

"…" Terra stayed in the same position he was in for a moment. The hand griping his head slowly fell away and he stared at it. "Oh my god…" He muttered, low enough to not be heard, but Riku and the King could hear well with their superior hearing.

"What is it?" Riku asked

He didn't hear Riku, nor did he hear anything in general. He kept staring at his hand long and hard, an unreadable expression on his face.

He should've known… He had some sort of clairvoyance during his battle with Xehanort… but he had no idea that it could actually happened to them…

"… No… Ven… Aqua..." He found himself choking up a little, though he didn't care. But… he felt horrified. Horrified by the fact that he couldn't save them.

It… should've been him… It should've been him. It should've been him! **It should've been him!!** _**It should've been him!!!**_

As these thoughts ran through his head, he brought up the hand that was on the grass to his face to examine it along with the other hand. He clenched his hands, squeezed his eyes shut, and gritted his teeth. "Why… WHY DID YOU DO IT?!?" He raised his fists in the air and slammed them onto the, causing a small tremor. Riku and Mickey cried out in shock as the ground shook a little.

"WHY?" The brunette continued to pound the ground with his fist. "WHY DID YOU SAVE ME?? YOU COULD'VE SAVED YOURSELF AQUA!!" As he continued to rant, he kept making small tremors, causing the trees to shake. Riku and the King tried their best to steady themselves. Suddenly the tremors stopped and the two looked at the taller human, his forearms on the ground, hunched over. Riku lifted up the piece of the blindfold as the two looked at Terra. They could barely see it, but he was quivering.

"… …I… I could've…" He chocked out, stifling… a sob? "I could've… I could've saved you two! But…"

Terra could feel the tears running down his cheeks, but he didn't attempt to wipe them away. They freely fell off his chin and onto the grass under him. "First our master… and now you two??" He could no longer hold it back and completely broke down.

"…" Mickey looked on sadly as Riku replaced his blindfold over his eye. Giving Riku a glace and back at Terra, he sighed and went over to the young man.

"Terra… It'll be alright," Mickey said soothingly, rubbing the young man's back gently. It seemed the said brunette didn't hear him, as he continued to sob quietly. Meanwhile, Riku looked on, understanding what the older human was going through.

He remembered that he had felt this way when he realized that he was tricked the whole time, and of the things that had happened to his friends. Kairi is now staying at their home islands, waiting for their return, but…

Striding over to the brunette and stopped next to his, he placed a comforting hand on his shoulder. "I think I know how you feel," he said. Terra didn't stir in his lament, but the silver haired male had a feeling it caught his attention. "You felt that you've failed your friends, from all the things that happened back then. You and I were possessed by an evil person, driving insane by lust for power or knowledge." Terra moved his head a bit so he could look at the silvernette, surprise evident in his eyes. "Two friends of mine lost their hearts, but one was in the heart of my other friend. The two are okay now, with one on our home world… but…"

The brunette blinked as Riku suddenly made a frown. A sad frown. "Some things had happened, and my friend was put to sleep so he can regain what he lost…" Mickey, who had stopped rubbing Terra's back to listen in to the conversation, made a sad look at this. "It's taking a long time, but, eventually, Sora will be his old self again…"

"I'm doing everything I can, to make sure he sleeps peacefully," he continued, "and to repent for everything I've done. But, no matter what, Sora and Kairi forgive me, even after everything that happened to them." He made a small smile as he said the next sentence, "And I'm sure your friends will also forgive you, because-" he looked at Terra at this "-they're your first and true friends. Your heart is connected to theirs. Never forget that."

Terra kept on staring at Riku, absorbing all the info he had told him. "…How will I know… if they all… forgive me?"

"Try looking inside of you Terra," the said brunette looked at the mouse king as he said the sentence. "No matter how vast your darkness is, there's always a small bit of light that's too stubborn to go out." At this, Terra straightened up and sat on his heels, "Ven and Aqua are your light; the light to balance out your darkness." He closed his eyes with a grin. "Even if they're not in this realm anymore, they'll always be inside your heart."

"… Okay…" The brown haired male nodded, deciding to take his advice. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes, concentrating on… whatever is in him, since he suddenly remembered that he couldn't feel his own heartbeat earlier. Shaking his head mentally, he went back to concentrating on his friends. The blackness was replaced by a white void, and he could see the familiar faces of his friends.

Ven made a silly grin as he put his hands behind his head, tilting his head a little; Aqua made a warm smile at him, nothing dark against him in her eyes. In fact, in both of their eyes. The void disappeared and he opened his eyes. He closed them again softly, and tears formed in his eyes. But not tears of sadness, but tears of joy. "Thank you. Both of you," a tear ran down his cheek. "Heh, I can't remember the last time I felt like this…"

Mickey nodded in understandment while Riku nodded just once, but a very faint smile is on his face. Wiping the tears from his eyes and taking the hand offered by Riku to help himself up, he inhaled deeply through his nose and exhaled through his mouth, calming himself down. "Now… can you two tell me what's been going since… that day?"

"Welp, okay," Mickey scratched his head, "but first, we should find a more suitable location to discuss this. There might be members of the organization listening on us!"

"I think I know where we should hide," the two looked at Riku after he said that. "Besides, maybe they should help explain this, too."

"They?" Terra parroted, tilting his head a little.

"You'll see when you meet them." Riku began turning to the path that lead to the other part of the woods. "Let's go." He made his way to that part of the woods, the King not far behind him. Terra made a small smirk and began to follow them.

_Ba-bump…_

Terra had not taken two steps before he felt a throbbing pain in his chest. In reaction, he put a hand, over the scar, on his chest, letting out a grunt as he closed his left eye, bending over slightly. _'What the- What the hell was-'_

_Ba-bump…_

"_AGH!" _The throbbing pain suddenly turn into _agonizing_ pain, causing the brunette to clutch tightly on his coat while his other arm hugged his chest. Due to the scar being covered, no one didn't notice the keyhole shaped scar glowing.

Not even Riku and the King when they turned to him, surprise evident on their faces. "Terra, what's wrong??" Mickey asked, worried about the brown haired warrior.

Terra let out small grunts of pain but still managed to say, quaking in his voice, "I… don't… know…" Before he let out an agonized scream as a pale yellow aura and an inky black aura appeared around his form, the two auras looking like they were fighting over dominance of Terra's being. Mickey and Riku took a step back, the force of the two energies overwhelming as they heard something like a heartbeat.

"Terra! You've got to control your light and darkness, or they'll destroy you!" Riku called out, sensing the danger in the situation.

The older human gritted his teeth, fighting back whatever sound that wanted to escape from his mouth; yet it also showed that he was trying to balance out his light and darkness within him. _'Ven… Aqua… help me!' _He mentally called out to his friends.

As if it was God's answer, the two auras around him started to calm down, bit by bit. During the chaos, Riku breathed deeply through his nose and a scent made itself present.

A familiar scent.

As Riku stared at Terra in shock, the auras around the latter and the heartbeat disappeared. Terra's arms fell limply to his sides, as he let out a small moan, before he fell to his knees and onto his side.

"TERRA!" Was the last thing he heard before everything went black…

**Meanwhile, at the Castle That Never Was…**

Xigbar quickly made his way to Xemnas' room, for he had to tell him that someone had hacked into their computer mainframe earlier. He had a feeling who did it, but he gotta tell the Superior about it. Its one of the rules of the universe after all. But what disturbed him was that he wasn't at Where Nothing Gathers when he tried to report it, so he figured that he might've been in his room.

"Not good, not good, not good," he chanted to himself as he neared his destination. Coming to the door, he knocked on it. "Hey Xemnas! Come out! I gotta tell ya something!" No response. "Uh… Xemnas?" Still no response. He turned the knob to find it unlocked and slowly pushed the door open. "Hello…?" He called out as silently as he could…

"!!" He gasped, seeing the silver haired man on the floor, lying on his side, passed out. "Xemnas?? What the hell happened?!? HEY!"

**In an unknown location…**

"…Terra and Xemnas had passed the first trial…"

"_**I see… And now, let's see if they'll pass the second trial. In the meantime, go do what I've instructed and I'll do my part."**_

"As you wish…"

**

* * *

CLIFFHANGER!! I can be so evil sometimes!**

**I apologize though. I've been distracted and had to **_**thoroughly **_**research on Birth By Sleep, so I had to change it from what I've originally intended. So… yeah. And the stuff I've put down might've been crappy, but… I'll leave that to you.**

**But anyways, please stay tuned for the next chapter! Review please, and I'll try my best to update whenever I can. And see if you can figure out who those two beings are at the last part! ;)**


	5. Truth

_Chapter 5 a go-go! Finally, Terra will get his answers of what's been going on in the worlds since he was, uh… unavailable for nearly 11 years…_

_**Disclaimer: I don't own the Kingdom Hearts series. Though I wish I do! **__**TToTT**__** WAA!!!**_

**

* * *

Truth**

_All he could see is pure, utter blackness. Faintly, he could feel another presence within the void. But just as quickly as it came, it faded away. _

_Moments after, he could make out voices then the darkness claimed him once again._

_Then, a fuzzy image of a figure appeared before him. He couldn't make out what the figure looked like, but he is able to make out what looks like long blond hair. "Who are you?" He asked the figure._

_The figure turned themselves to him, and a pair of amber yellow eyes came into view. They're not cool and heartless, like Master Xehanort's, but warm and compassionate. The figure smiled softly at him then faded from sight…_

The scene reappeared, showing the still form of Terra as he lied on a bed.

"Golly, I hope he'll be okay," Mickey was the first to speak as he, Riku and two others looked over him.

"…" DiZ's bright brown eye gazed at Terra's still form.

"What's up DiZ?" Riku asked, removing a bit of his blindfold to look at the enigma.

"…It's nothing to worry about," DiZ shook his head but said; "However, what concerns me is about what you told us Riku."

Riku nodded. "But… what I don't get is, how come none of the other Nobodies have him around?"

"Huh…" Mickey glanced at the two then back at the only brunette in the room. "That is a good question. Why would he be in prison instead of being one of them?"

"Hm…" DiZ turned to the female Nobody. "Naminé… are you sure you haven't seen him before?"

"Yes," she nodded her head, "I've never seen him before, but…" The three looked at her. "He… bears a resemblance to someone… I just can't tell who…"

"…" DiZ lowered his eyelid and gazed back at the sleeping warrior. _'Yes… he DOES bear a resemblance to him…' _

"Riku," DiZ turned to the silver haired boy, as the said boy covered his eye again, "until he wakes up, your duties will be put on hold."

"Alright," was his response.

"Let us go Naminé," DiZ walked out of the room.

"Alright," she nodded then followed him out.

As soon as the two left, Riku turned to the King. "Riku…" Mickey made an uneasy look.

"Mickey," Riku began, "Please don't tell anyone about what you saw in the woods, especially Sora and Kairi."

"But…"

"Please," he begged. Mickey shifted his eyes a little, unsure if he could make that promise or not. Finally, he sighed.

"Okay," he said reluctantly, "I won't tell."

Riku made a small smile. "Thanks."

Mickey nodded. "Hoh boy…" He muttered as he looked at the prone Terra, "this is going to a long explanation…"

Riku only nodded.

_The next morning…__** (Or Day 2 for him. X3)**_

A soft skritching on something hard reached his ears, followed by something being swiped softly before resuming. Was someone drawing?

Terra opened his cobalt blue eyes, his vision blurry at first then blinked a couple of times to clear it, seeing a ceiling. "Huh?" He let out intelligently. He slowly pushed himself from something soft – which he realized was a bed with just a pillow – and palmed his right temple with a groan.

The sound of someone using a pencil drawing on something stopped. "Oh, you're awake," a soft female voice acknowledged.

Doing a take, he looked in the direction the voice came from. It was a girl around 15 with blonde shoulder blade length hair draped over her right shoulder and cerulean blue eyes, a plain white lace dress and a pair of light blue sandals with several small, white flowers on the straps; cradled in her left arm is a sketch book, which is evident that she's the one drawing as she also had a blue color pencil in her right hand.

"Who are-" the girl made a shushing gesture, and he took that as a sign to be silent.

"My name is Naminé," she introduced herself, and smiled a little, "It's nice to meet you Terra."

Terra blinked in surprise. "How did you know my name?"

"Riku and the King told me and DiZ about you," she answered as she stood up, showing that her dress ended at about mid-thigh, cradling the sketch book in her arms. "Follow me please."

"Wha- Why?" He raised a brow at the small demand.

"DiZ asked me," she began, "that if you woke up, that I should explain since Riku went off to check on something, along with the King; and DiZ had to check the progress of Sora's restoration."

"What are you… talking about?" He asked slowly as he straightened himself to sit on the bed.

"I'll explain soon, but first," the blonde reached behind her and pulled out a rice ball. She offered it to the brunette warrior. "Hungry?"

He was about to reply when his stomach growled a bit loudly, causing the warrior to blush slightly. "Thanks," he said as he took the rice ball from her. Using his teeth, he pulled the glove off of his right hand and, using that hand, began eating it slowly, savoring the flavor.

"So…" He began after swallowing the last of the rice ball, "where are we headed?"

Naminé smiled. "Follow me," she said as she walked toward the door. Terra got up from the bed, grabbed the glove and followed her as he put the glove back on.

They entered a rather spacious lobby, even if it seems a little shabby. There were some large pieces of debris across the first floor, indicating the place's shabby state of repair. Terra looked to his left and noticed a cluttered pile of rubble just laying there. He looked ahead and spotted another door. Looking over to his left again, there was a glass screen door between the staircases. The whole place seemed to be dimly lit, as most of the light came from outside…

The clacking of the sandals brought his attention back to Naminé, who had walked over to the staircase near them, and he followed her wordlessly. When he walked upon them, it seems that a carpet is placed on them, compared to the tile floors in the lobby. Come to think of it, the room he was in earlier had a carpet floor, too. Shaking his head mentally he continued following the blonde girl to the room on the left side of the building (or right depending on your point of view).

Naminé opened the door and the two went inside. Terra had to squint his eyes a little as they walked in; everything was incredibly bright. Everything is… white. Even the table and chairs in the center of the room. There were many sketches of various things being held up on the wall by tape.

Naminé went over to the chair in front of her and sat down, placing her sketch book onto the table, next to the other color pencils she had in her possession. She gestured to the chair on the other side of the table. Terra walked over to the chair and sat down, sitting formally.

"Okay so-" Naminé held up her finger, indicating that he should wait a minute. Naminé picked up her sketch book and flipped through the pages until she find the page she's looking for. She turned the book around to show him the picture.

Despite the fact that she used color pencils, the picture looked like it was drawn by crayons. The picture had six people on it, standing in front of a black door of sort. They all wore what looked like lab coats, though on the left are two black haired people, on the right are three people, though one of them looked to be a young one with silverfish purple hair, the other two are taller, though the one with light brown hair is taller than the long dirty blonde one. The one in the middle though, caught his attention; it was a figure with white to silver hair.

"These six are apprentices of Ansem the Wise," she began. "From what I understand, the seven of them studied the darkness of a person's heart so they can find a way to drive off the darkness in their homeworld. Although, years before they conducted their studies, a young man with amnesia is found and nursed back to health."

Terra nodded silently, listening intently.

"That young man is the first to volunteer for the studies, but… something went wrong," her eyes turned downcast as she continued, "The young man became insane with the studies of darkness, and eventually the other five apprentices also began to lose their minds to it. They then conducted inhumane experiments on subjects they've kidnapped, creating creatures of darkness." She flipped the page, showing a familiar picture that Terra saw before on Pence's photo.

"They made this symbol for those creatures that contain hearts within them," she continued, "and yet couldn't feel emotions like humans."

These creatures suddenly reminded him of the Unversed…

"Their name sounds fitting though…" Naminé took this moment to pause. "The Heartless."

"Heartless?" He parroted, raising a brow.

She nodded. "They are creatures born from the darkness of people's hearts. They act upon instinct, being attracted to the darkness in a person's heart, and, when given a chance, steals the heart for themselves."

"…" Terra's eyes widened, appalled by it.

"There are two types of Heartless though," she continued, flipping another page, showing a black insect like creature and a yellow tea pot like creature with the emblem on it. "The black one is a Pure-blood Heartless, while the yellow one is known as 'Emblem' Heartless."

"And… why are they called Emblem Heartless?"

"Because that breed carry hearts within their bodies. It does sound strange, but it's true. Pure-blood Heartless are born when the heart falls to darkness naturally; however, Emblem Heartless are born when the said Heartless steals a heart, making it one of their own. Eventually, the six of them lost their hearts to the darkness, themselves becoming Heartless."

"…" Terra's hand moved over to his chest, where his heart should be. What a horrible fate… to have your heart stolen by these creatures… But… why couldn't he help but feel that it had happened to him? "But… wait a minute, what happened to Ansem the Wise?"

Naminé frowned, closing her eyes. "He was banished to another dimension by his own apprentices," was her reply. "No one knows if he's still alive or not to this day…"

"…Oh…"

"Although the problem with the Heartless was taken care of nearly a year ago, there's another threat to the worlds behind the scenes." She flipped the page to another picture, making Terra do a take in recognition.

"Hey… that's the symbol in that strange place, where I fought that Saïx person!" He exclaimed; but for one reason or another, it looked oddly familiar. Come to think of it, the Heartless symbol looked a bit familiar as well…

"Yes," Naminé nodded, "It is the symbol of the creatures, born from the body and soul left behind by a heart, as well as an organization whose members are made of. Nobodies."

"Nobodies?"

"Beings that are… not meant to exist…" She looked sad as she said it. "When a person who lost their heart to the darkness, the shell it left behind began acting with a will of its own. But, when a person with a strong heart and will becomes a Heartless, or has lost their heart, the shell retains its humanoid shape, with minor alterations…"

"Wait… so those without a strong will doesn't look human at all?"

"Yes," she nodded, "Though… even if that Nobody looked human, they aren't. They don't have any hearts, therefore, they couldn't feel any emotion at all. They rely on their memories as humans to make it look like they do have emotions."

Again, these things reminded him of the Unversed, like the Heartless…

"Hang on," he interjected, "You said something about an organization of sort, right? Are they the same organization that Saïx mentioned: Organization XIII?"

She nodded again. "Organization XIII is a group of thirteen Nobodies that wished to be whole. To that end, they're desperately searching for something."

"What?"

"Kingdom Hearts."

"WHAT!" He slammed a fist onto the table, starling the blonde. "Why would they be after the heart of all worlds?? If so, how are they going to gain it? The seven Princesses of Heart? The X-Blade?? What?!"

Naminé recomposed herself before continuing, "From what I know, they're making their own Kingdom Hearts using the Keyblade to slay Emblem Heartless to gather hearts. Because since every heart eventually returns to Kingdom Hearts, they can **become** Kingdom Hearts itself."

"…" That explanation left him speechless. Finding his voice again, he asked another question that bugged him: "Wait… you said the organization needed a Keyblade to slay Emblem Heartless to gather hearts. So, where are they--"

"They have a member whose original self is a Keyblade wielder, along with the incomplete replica of that same wielder," she answered his unfinished question, "however, the latter is not really a member to begin with."

Terra was silent again. "…You seem to know a lot about the Organization…"

"That's because…" she laid the sketch book back onto the table, "They've captured me for my ability, around the same time that their thirteenth member had arrived."

"What?" He went silent, piecing the puzzle together. Then it hit him. "…You're a 'Nobody', too… aren't you?"

"…" She didn't answer, but that was all he needed.

"…How did you escape from them?"

On the inside, she was surprised by the response though she didn't show it. "…Nearly a year ago, I was forced to take apart and create memories on the Keyblade wielder by two Organization members who planned to overthrow their superior, with the wielder as their puppet. I… felt guilty doing it, but I was so lonely… Yet, despite that, he forgave me for doing it, after I told him the truth. He defeated the two who were planning to overthrow the superior, and now he's asleep so I can fix his memories."

He put two and two together on who she meant. "…You must be talking about 'Sora', right?"

"Yes, however…" she trailed off, "the process is slow, because of the interference of his Nobody and replica. At this rate," she lowered her eyes, almost sadly, "he'll never wake up…"

"… I'm sorry…" Terra hung his head, "I wish there is a way for me to help, but…" he looked at his hand as he said: "I've lost my ability to wield the Keyblade, nearly eleven years ago." He clenched his fist. "If I was able to regain it, I'd do everything I can to help."

"You don't have to…"

"What else am I suppose to do?" He shook his head. "My friend is sleeping out there without his heart, and I don't know if my other friend is alive or not… I guess… I have to live out my life for them…"

Naminé, despite being a Nobody, smiled a genuine smile at him. "Your personality is almost like Riku's…" she remarked. She then tilted her head a bit. "Although… you resemble someone… I just can't put my finger on it…"

"Really…" Terra racked his brain a bit, then Saïx's odd comment came to mind.

"_You… Why do you look like Xemnas??" _Was his exclamation of apparent 'shock'.

Terra looked right at Naminé. "Naminé… do you know someone named 'Xemnas'?"

The blonde Nobody gave him an odd look. "Why did you ask that?"

"Before I came to this place, Saïx said that I look like him," was his reply.

"!" Naminé looked over Terra's face, trying to see some resemblance of sort. The face shape looked the same but… She pictured his skin darker tanned, his eyes a luminous but cold yellow orange eyes, and his hair long and silver. "Oh my…" she mumbled to herself, shocked as she found out what he said was true.

"Hm? What's wrong?" He asked, confused as he saw the shocked look.

Naminé tried to think of a response. Should she tell him about Xemnas and his resemblance to him? A part of her wanted to, but the other part doesn't…

Thankfully she was saved when an oval made of darkness appeared in the room. The two looked at it in surprise, Terra on the offensive if it's an Organization member that somehow found them. He did a take in surprise when Mickey and Riku emerged from it, the latter waving his hand over it and the portal disappeared in response. The two then turned to the former two occupants in the room.

"Terra! You're awake!" The King acknowledged, glad that the only brunette in the room is awake. "Are you alright?"

"What do you mean?" He asked, confused by the question.

"…You don't remember?" Riku asked slowly.

Terra thought about it, trying to see if he had any memory of what they mean, but couldn't find it… or rather the memory he's seeking is a complete blur. "I'm… not sure really," he answered honestly, scratching his head. "It's a complete blur…"

The boy and mouse duo gave each other a look then back at Terra. "Well… the light and darkness within you were fighting for dominance over your being," the mouse king explained. "You managed to control it, but fainted afterwards."

"Oh…"

"Well what now Terra?" Riku asked as he crossed his arms, "What are you going to do, now that you know what's going on?"

"Well… I do know one thing," the brunette began as he stood up, walked over to the corner of the table on his side and placed his hand on it. "I'm not going to sit around while the Organization goes around and do as they please. But… like I said, I've lost my ability to wield the Keyblade nearly eleven years ago. I'm not even sure… where my power is now, or, better yet, how I came back…"

"Hm…" Mickey crossed his arms, humming thoughtfully. Then an idea struck him, like being pelted unexpectedly by a slushball on a cold winter day. "I know! If there's one person who could help solve this matter is my old master!"

"Yen Sid?" Terra made an unsure look on his face. "Do you think… he'll still remember me?"

"I'm sure he does!" The mouse reassured, "I didn't become this strong on my own after all."

"Hm…" Terra put his thumb and forefinger on his chin while his left hand rested on his hip. After a moment, he straightened up. "Alright, let's give it a shot!" He exclaimed as he nodded. "But… how are we going to get there? I can't just use my Keyblade Rider…"

"Keyblade Rider?" The silvernette and blonde parroted, confused.

"I'll explain later," Mickey was quick to answer, "As for how we'll get to the tower, I have that figured out. We'll go ahead and leave once you're ready."

"Alright, but first… I wanted to ask something that's… been on my mind since Naminé explained it all to me."

"And that is…?" Riku pressed on.

He made a sad façade as he said: "…I'm a 'Nobody'… am I?" The others didn't respond, but he answered their unspoken question, "I… put two and two together when I realized that I don't have my heart… But…" he put a hand on his chest. "How can I feel these emotions… if I don't have it?"

"Hm…" Mickey once again crossed his arms. "That is a good question…" Then he perked up, uncrossing his arms. "Oh, I almost forgot!" He dug into his pocket, causing the other three to look at him curiously. Finding what he was looking for, he pulled it out for the brunette to see, causing the latter's eyes to widen. Riku went over to Terra's side to look at what made the latter's eyes widen in surprise while Naminé turned her body to see what it is.

It's a star shaped charm held together by brown strings, the parts of the stars resembling sea shells somewhat. The said 'shells', starting from the center to the edges, are in the color of red orange, orange, orange yellow and yellow, outlined in platinum. In the center of the said charm is a strange heart-shaped symbol with three points jutting out like a cross at the bottom. Lastly, the charm is held up by the same string holding the charm together, as if its purpose is to be worn like a necklace of sort.

"That's! That's my good luck charm!" Terra exclaimed, coming toward the king afterwards.

The mouse smiled. "I had a feeling it belonged to you, since Aqua and Ven had similar ones, but colored differently."

The brown haired warrior knelled to his level and offered his hand, which the King placed the charm on. As Terra straightened up, he made a small but sad smile at it. "…I had no idea I've dropped it… Aqua made these, as a bond that'll keep us connected, no matter where we are. Now it's the only thing I have left of my friends…" He softly clenched the hand that has he charm, then put it in the pocket of the cloak he wears.

Taking in a deep breath, exhaling afterwards he nodded. "Alright… I'm ready."

"Alright," the King nodded seriously then put the hood on over his head. He turned to the door and walked toward it. Terra began to follow, then paused. Looking over at Riku, he asked:

"Are you coming with us?"

"No," Riku shook his head. "There are some things that I needed to check on. Though I'm sure we'll cross paths again."

"I see…" Terra went silent for a moment. "Riku." The silvernette looked at him. "If… If I were to be possessed again, and if I can't regain control over my body… destroy me."

"…What??" Riku exclaimed, shocked along with the blonde Nobody. "But… I can't! What if--"

"Then if I'm not able to fight off my possessor," the brunette added. "…I'd rather be destroyed, rather than be possessed again. Seeing everything through your own eyes, and yet you couldn't control your own body with that possessor, and not doing a thing about it… It's a fate worse than death. At least… that's what I think."

"…"

"If anyone were to destroy me… why not my successor?" Terra, upon impulse, put the hood over his head. "I'll probably see you in the near future then." He then walked out of the White Room, closing the door behind him. The only two in the room stared at the door in silence.

'_Successor? What did he mean by that…?' _Riku asked himself. Then… it suddenly came back to him. He did meet Terra back then. And… he held onto the brunette's Keyblade, upon his instruction. _'So that's how… And I can't believe I've forgotten about it until now…'_

"Yeah, I'll see you again… Master," Riku said softly to himself.

"Riku…" The silvernette turned to the blonde. "…Do you want to know about Xion?"

"…Alright," Riku responded, walking over to the vacant chair.

Unknown to any of them, using some sort of cloaking ability, DiZ hid in the hall next to the White Room, and he overheard everything that went on in the room.

"…_I'd rather be destroyed, rather than be possessed again. Seeing everything through your own eyes, and yet you couldn't control your own body with that possessor, and not doing a thing about it… It's a fate worse than death. At least… that's what I think." _

'_So… you think you and Riku are the only victims of this mess, wrought upon by a mad man… You are not the only one…' _DiZ, or rather, Ansem the Wise, thought to himself as he watched Terra and Mickey leave.

_Sometime later at the train station…_

"Two tickets please," Terra asked, his hood down as held the necessary amount of Munny for those tickets. Mickey is next to him, waiting for the tickets to arrive but he couldn't help but tap his foot repeatedly. After a moment, the person behind the booth handed the brunette his tickets. "Thank you." He handed the munny to the person.

The two walked up the stairs and stood patiently, waiting for… something.

"Um… What does the train we're going to use look like?" Terra asked, after a few minutes of silence.

"You'll know when you see it," he responded.

"Right…" And so they resumed waiting. But it didn't last long.

"Hey!" Hearing a familiar exclamation over the noise, Terra turned to the source and spotted Hayner, Pence, and Olette at the top of the stairs, the blonde waving at him.

"Guys? What are you all doing here?" He asked in surprise as the trio ran up to him.

"We saw you heading this way," Olette explained.

"Does that mean your leaving?" Pence asked slowly, looking a bit downcast.

Terra frowned as he looked at the three of them. He had only met them yesterday, and yet… it felt that he was their friend since forever. Maybe this is what Ven and Aqua felt when they met the residences of the worlds they went to...

He made a soft smile. "Yeah… I am. But don't worry; I'll come and visit you guys whenever I can."

"You promise?" It wasn't a question coming from Hayner.

"Promise." The male brunette nodded.

Mickey watched the warrior's interaction with those three, and made a small smile. Despite knowing the truth, about what happened then and now, Terra had become a bit mellow since his unexpected return.

"By the way, did you find anything in the mansion?" Pence asked, bring up the subject that was on his mind.

"Well…" Stealing a glance at Mickey, he looked back at the three teens. "Somewhat."

Seeing the large doors opening up next to them, the mouse declared, "Here it is!"

Looking at Mickey at his suddenly exclamation, the four looked at the large doors as a train came in. But it didn't look like an ordinary train…

The train is colored purple with a bit of star designs on them and star styled windows. At where the chimney of sort is, is a blue cone shaped thing with star and crescent moon designs on them. The cone shape and the designs looked very familiar to Terra.

The train slowed to a stop, the steam coming out of the bottom with a _hiss_ as two doors opened up. "Is this…?"

"Yup," Mickey nodded, "this train will get us to our destination." The king then wordlessly walked into the train. Terra walked to the doorway but hesitated, looking over his shoulder to his new friends in this town.

Hayner smirked, giving him a 'thumbs up' in reassurance. Olette smiled softly and waved softly. Pence looked like he was about to cry as he waved sadly.

Terra made a small smile once more and waved at them one more time before going in. Turning to the entrance, he shouted, "I'll come back and visit! I promise!" After the next sentence, the doors closed. After it did, the train car started to hover above the rails, the three of them having their mouths agape as they witnessed it. It continued to hover, the three of them backing up upon instinct. When it's a two feet above their heads, the train turned itself around and floated gently back onto the tracks.

The train let out a whistle, letting out steam from under it and started its way down the track, to its destination. The three of them watched as the train soon went out of sight for them.

"…Do you think he'll keep that promise?" Pence asked after a moment.

"He better," Hayner said halfheartedly.

Olette made a smile. "I bet he will."

One the train, Terra stood by the door he went through and looked out the window, seeing many roofs go by as the King calmly sat on the other side. "…You know…" Terra began, still staring out the window. But it did get the King's attention. "I… feel sad. It's so strange… like I've been to this town before. But I know I haven't…"

Mickey gave him a look and pulled back his hood. "It'll be okay Terra," he reassured, "When you get your powers back, you can visit Twilight Town anytime you want, and visit your new friends."

The young warrior looked at him for a moment and made a small smile. Suddenly, a flash of light appeared outside of the train, causing the young man to look out the window; the scenery of the town soon changed into one from outer space with beautiful aurora lights outside, the tracks themselves colored in a rainbow aura…

Somewhere in the universe, a certain silver haired man looked up at the stars on the world he decided to go to, the waves washing up on the beach softly before going back. "…Something is missing…" Xemnas said softly, for once at peace…

**

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Uh… well all of that came out of nowhere… A bit cheesy but… bleh.**

**Well, now Terra knows what's been going on; however, he still couldn't figure out how he got here. Perhaps a certain retired Keyblade Master could shed some light. And no worries, Terra will regain his power!**

**But… things don't come easy! No soiree! To find out, tune in to the next chapter! Review please! ^w^ **


	6. Regain

_Chapter six is here. And, uh… an epic fight should ensure. But I am NOT spoiling it for you! You just have to read on and see!_

_**Disclaimer: I own none of these guys, but I sort of own the plot. Oh, and my OCs.**_

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**Regain**

**In the many halls of the Castle That Never Was**

Everything was quiet for once in the Castle That Never Was. Normally, the Nobodies would just wake up, go to the Gray Room and await orders given to them by Saïx. But no one in their right mind would get up at this ungodly hour…

…Which was proven wrong when a Corridor of Darkness appeared and Xemnas walked out of it; he closed the portal behind him afterwards. He stood alone in the hall in silence, for once thankful of the silence in the castle. With silence is pure aloneness. Digging in his pocket, he pulled out a blue/yellow seashell of sorts, with a small fleurs-de-lis at the bottom, he picked up from the world he visited. The seashell he was holding suddenly faded in an orange colored star-shaped charm, causing him to drop the charm, completely startled.

Staring at the charm a little longer, he bent down and picked it up, by the edge, slowly. _"Somewhere in the universe is a world where star shaped fruits are…"_ is what she – Aqua is it? – said as she explained the charm; as he straightened up. As he stared at the charm, it changed back into the seashell he had earlier.

"Hm… Strange…" He murmured, staring at the shell a bit longer. After that little incident the day before, bits of what he assumed to be his lost memories started to come to him. Mentally shrugging, he pocketed the shell and made his way to his room.

**Meanwhile, with Terra and Mickey**

Mickey still sat patiently as the train kept on chugging. He looked over at the other side, seeing the brunette still asleep on his side, using his right arm as a pillow while his left hand held his charm to his chest. Nearly two hours ago, Terra told him that he'll be taking a nap, and asked him to wake him when they're near their destination. Even though he hasn't been around long, Terra can sure sleep like a log…

Mickey stood up on the seat and looked out the window, trying to look up ahead. Straining his eyes, he spotted a similar white vortex ahead. _'We're nearly there,' _Mickey said to himself, smiling a little bit.

Turning himself around and jumping off of the seat, he went over to Terra, jumping onto the seat next to his head. Grabbing his shoulder, the king shook him gently yet roughly. "Terra. Terra, wake up!" He shook him with a bit more force when he didn't wake up the first time. Terra stirred a little, mumbling something incoherently and went back to sleep.

Mickey put his knuckles on his hips, quirking a brow as he tapped his foot a little. Getting the warrior up is going to be harder than he thought… Then, an idea popped into his head. Summoning his Keyblade, he held it over Terra's head and a ball of ice started to form until it's around the size of Terra's head. Keeping it hovering over the warrior's head, he then used a fire spell to heat up the ball, melting it but kept the water ball hovering. When it's melted all the way, but still noticeably cold, he held it in the air for a little longer.

"Sorry Terra, but you've asked for it," Mickey silently apologized, then brought the Keyblade down.

"DAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA—" A scream can be heard in space – somehow reaching out to other worlds (the said scream waking up most of the Organization members up) – before the train went through the white hole, silencing the scream… momentarily.

Moments later, the train came exited out of the hole and slowed to a stop at a large piece of land and the doors opened up. Stepping out of it first is Mickey, who had a sheepish look on his face…

…And coming out next is a very annoyed Terra, whose hair is dripping wet and the chest area of the coat is a little wet.

"The fuck was that for Mickey?" Terra demanded as he took the coat off and tried to wring it out, "You could've just woken me up normally!"

"I tried," Mickey explained, shrugging a little, "but you're pretty much a hard sleeper Terra."

"Grr…" The brunette growled slightly and looked over his coat. It's still a little wet, but it'll do, he thought as he put the coat back on.

Mickey glanced at the still wet hair. "Um…"

"It'll dry out on its own," he insisted. Getting his bearings again, he looked around the world he once visited nearly eleven years ago. The world looked pretty much the same though. He remembered coming here to find out more about Xehanort's whereabouts, like the 'battlefield wasteland' after speaking with the Magic Mirror in the world Dwarf Woodlands. It was also here that he and Mickey first met…

_-Flashback!-_

_Arriving in the world, Terra looked around the world until his eyes rested at the odd tower. This Master Yen Sid is a friend of Master Eraqus, right? Maybe he can help on his journey to find Master Xehanort. Nodding to himself, he made his way to the entrance to the golden brown tower. Just as he neared it, a small being clothed in black ran out of the tower, as if in a hurry._

_When the being stopped some foot away from the entrance, Terra also stopped to examine him. The being, surprisingly enough, is a mouse around 2 feet, and in his hand is a Keyblade with star designs. The brunette blinked. "Another wielder?" He muttered to himself, surprised._

_Apparently, the mouse heard him as it – or he – gasp in shock and turned to him. "Who are you?" He asked._

"_I'm Terra," the young man introduced himself. "I'm an apprentice to Yen Sid's friend, Eraqus."_

"_Your master knows mine?" The mouse exclaimed, surprised._

"_Yen Sid is your master?" The brunette stared at the mouse dumbly, also surprised._

"_Well, if your master knows mine, we should be friends!" The mouse Keyblade wielder grinned. "Oh! I almost forgot to introduce myself!" The mouse chuckled a little after speaking. "I'm Mickey. Mickey Mouse."_

"_Nice meeting you," Terra nodded, "But I'm sort of in a hurry, and-"_

"_Good golly!" Mickey suddenly exclaimed, making the young man jump. "I better get out of here before I'm too late!" With that, he dug into his pocket and pulled out a blue star charm-like object, with a lightning bolt on the last segment of the star and held it to the air. _

"_Nice meeting you Terra!" He exclaimed as the charm shined green along with the mouse. After that, the mouse turned into a blue light of sort, crying out in shock as he practically flew all over the place as he made his way to the sky and disappeared as a star._

_After watching that, Terra turned his attention back to the tower. "What a strange person…" he mumbled as he walked on the steps, up to the door…_

_-End flashback!-_

After remembering that, he shook his head. Who would've thought that Mickey is a king of his world? It diffidently took him by surprise when he visited the mouse king's world to participate in the Dream Festival, after meeting Queen Minnie that is.

"Alright then," Mickey's voice brought him back to reality, getting the brunette to look at the King, seeing his face very serious. "We better get moving! We have no idea if the Heartless or the enemy Nobodies might find this place!" The small Keyblade Master took off to the tower before Terra could say anything.

The warrior sighed, and took off after him. He can understand about Mickey being in a hurry; not only could Yen Sid could shed some light on this situation, maybe he can help him gain his power back. Also, who knows if the Organization had been keeping an eye on them for a while…

The two hurried up the stairs, past the Star Chamber and the Moon Chamber, so far not running into any trouble. Mickey was halfway to the room where Master Yen Sid is at when he paused and looked over his shoulder to see Terra at the bottom of the stairs, hands on his knees as he panted.

"C'mon! Hurry up!" The king shouted at him, impatient.

"For-For God's sake Mickey!" Terra shouted through pants, "Wait a minute, would ya?"

Mickey crossed his arms and started to tap his foot, but nonetheless waited for him. Once Terra got his second wind, he hurried to the King's side and the two ran to the door as fast as they could. Upon reaching the door they stopped to catch their breath. Once they did, they looked at each other and nodded. Mickey pushed the door opened and the two walked in…

To an empty room.

Terra looked around, along with Mickey, confused. "Where is he?" He asked. This was odd. Usually, the old master would be sitting at his desk…

"Maybe… he went out on an errand?" Mickey guessed, scratching his head.

"Aww…" The brunette moaned, slouching a little. "We've came all this way to find him not home?"

"Gosh, I'm sorry Terra," the mouse apologized.

"No… It's not your fault," Terra shook his head. "Perhaps we should come back later."

"If you say so…" The King reluctantly agreed. They turned to the door and began to walk out. But before any of them could touch the door, they heard an elderly yet wise voice saying:

"It has been a while you two." The two turned as one and saw the retired Keyblade Master standing by the window.

"Master Yen Sid!" The two cried out as they stood at attention.

"At ease you two," the old master waved off the formalities. "I was conversing with someone… interesting."

"Interesting?" Terra parroted, him and Mickey easing down as they looked confused.

"You will meet her soon enough," the sorcerer sat down at his seat and waved his hand. From the blue circles that appeared on the ground two chairs materialized in front of the desk, the circles disappearing afterwards. "Have a seat you two."

"Yes sir," the two chorused, nodding. They went to the chairs and sat in them.

"As I stated, it has been a while you two, especially you Terra," Yen Sid began.

"Y-Yeah," the brunette scratched his head. "It's… hard to believe that a lot of things had happened since I was gone. Like the appearance of Organization XIII and the Heartless. Though, those black creatures have been in the Realm of Darkness since before this mess with Xehanort happened back then…"

"I do not blame you young man," Yen Sid said, "None of us, your late Master Eraqus and I, could ever fathom that he would go so far to know about the Keyblade War." The old master bowed his head in shame. "After your group's battle with him and Vanitas, I had hoped that things would go back to way they are after Aqua left to find a hiding place for Ventus and finding you… However…"

"I ended up sealing me and Xehanort within my body, and Aqua is… somewhere else… right?"

"Aqua is no longer in this realm, I'm afraid; but she is not dead either," Yen Sid cryptically said.

"Huh?" The two let out, confused.

"However, the main topic is: why Terra has returned and why he is practically powerless." The old master went straight to the point.

"You knew?" Terra queried, surprised.

"Yesterday, I've sensed a presence appearing in Twilight Town," Yen Sid explained, "It seemed familiar, but I wasn't sure. But, the person I was speaking to told me that it was you, Terra."

"Oh," was Terra's intelligent (sarcasm) response.

"Master Yen Sid." The King went serious after the comment. "Do you know how Terra got here? And a way for him to regain his power?"

Yen Sid didn't say anything for a moment, looking at the two with a piercing stare. The two shifted uncomfortable for a moment before the old wizard spoke. "While it is true that Terra did manage to seal him and Master Xehanort away, I'm afraid it somehow managed to get worse."

"…?" They blinked.

"In doing so, a new entity was born, resulting with amnesia and, with an accomplice of Master Xehanort, caused these events to unfold, and making the worlds suffer for all of these years." With a wave of his hand, a tea cup on a platter and a tea pot appeared, using magic to make the pot tilting one way to pour the said liquid into the cup. The same set appeared before Terra and Mickey and Yen Sid magically pour them a cup.

"An entity?" Terra asked as he picked up the cup. After saying that, the sudden sense of unease he had earlier yesterday came back.

"Yes," the wizard nodded, "And that same entity later became a Heartless and a Nobody, the latter forming Organization XIII as its leader."

The two became silent as the old master sipped his tea. "Mickey, you have met that entity before, all of those years ago." The retired Keyblade Master added, looking straight at the king.

"I have?" The king blinked. "But… I don't-" He suddenly paused, as he just realized something. "Wait… yes. I remember his name now!" He held his head as he said it. "Talking about it brought some of my memories back! His name is… **Xehanort**."

Terra, who had been sipping his tea, turned away from the two as he did a spit take. "What?" He exclaimed, not believing what he heard. "How can that be? There's no way that there can be--" he cut himself off when a horrible realization dawned on him. "You mean… he's…"

"I'm afraid so," Yen Sid solemnly bowed his head. "The man known as Xehanort, who's Nobody is the leader of Organization XIII… was originally you, Terra."

"…But…" Terra looked lost at this revelation. "How can…" he trailed off, looking at his hands once more. If anyone were to see his eyes, they would've seen them clouded.

"Terra…" Mickey looked at the brunette sadly. Then a question popped into his head. "Wait… Master Yen Sid," he turned his attention back his old master, "if what you said is true, then how come Terra didn't appear until yesterday?"

"Hm," the old wizard hummed, stroking his beard thoughtfully. He shifted his eyes to the scar on Terra's chest. "Terra." The brunette did a take and looked at the wizard. "You received that scar when you managed to control your body to seal you and Master Xehanort away, correct?"

"Y-Yes sir," he nodded.

"Hm," Yen Sid once again hummed.

"_Touch his scar, and you'll know," _is what she said to him.

The retired Keyblade Master narrowed his eyes slightly and stood up from his chair. The two guests looked on in surprise at this. "Master?" Mickey was the first to ask as the wizard walked over to Terra.

"What is-?"

"Stay still," Yen Sid ordered, cutting the brunette off as he brought out his hand. The two looked on confused as the old master moved his hand over the scar. The old master closed his eyes and his palm touched the scar.

"Agh-!" Terra yelped, his body jerking into perfect posture-

Black. His vision just went black! He couldn't move his arms, or even his legs!

"_Wh-What the crap happened?" _He thought, completely confused by this. His voice wouldn't work! He couldn't even gain his breathe! What is-?

"_Who's there?" _A deep masculine voice demanded, catching the brunette off guard.

"…_Who are you?" _He questioned back, after regaining his composure.

Suddenly his vision came back, the young man panting heavily, his mind registering that Yen Sid had moved his hand off his scar. "Are you okay Terra?" Mickey asked; he became confused when Terra just went… still for a moment then was back to normal when the old wizard removed his hand off his scar.

Yen Sid watched Terra as the young man regained his breath. "Terra?" He spoke as soon as the brunette is breathing normally. "Did something happen when I placed my hand on your scar?"

"Y-Yeah," the brunette said slowly, putting his hand on his right temple. "Everything went black… I couldn't breathe. Couldn't do _anything_! When I thought about the strange occurrence, I… I heard another voice…"

"Another voice?" Mickey parroted.

"Yes," the warrior nodded as Yen Sid stroke his beard. "It's… deep; almost devoid of any emotion. He demanded to know who I am, but I asked him back about who he is. Then it all went back to normal…"

"Hm…" The old wizard let out, still stroking his beard. "Terra," the brunette looked at him, "were you told that you resembled someone?"

"Yeah… now that you mentioned it," he scratched his cheek a little, "this guy called Saïx said that I resembled a person named 'Xemnas'."

"… I see," was his response. _'So that is what she meant…' _He thought as he walked over to the large crescent moon window.

"… I believe I found an answer to this mystery," Yen Sid finally said. The two guests looked at him expectantly. "It seems that, when 'Xehanort' had a Nobody, a small part of you, Terra, survived within that Nobody. A force of sort, that even I don't know about, must have split you and that Nobody, named 'Xemnas', into two separate beings. However…" he turned around and locked Terra into his gaze, "it does not mean that you are truly free."

"You and Xemnas bore a connection through the scar," he continued as Terra's eyes went bright, pupils included, "In fact the two of you share the same life force half by half." An image cloud suddenly appeared over their heads. "If something bad happened to you Terra," a chibi version of Terra's head appeared, "it also happens to Xemnas." The chibi Terra made a happy face while a chibi version of Xemnas' head appeared with a sick face. "But the same holds true with Xemnas." Under the first pair, a second pair of heads appeared, only this time the chibi Terra made a sick face while the chibi Xemnas made a happy face.

"So, you're saying that, if Xemnas is killed…" Mickey trailed off, realization dawning on him and Terra.

"I'm afraid so," Yen Sid solemnly bowed his head. "Terra's life will also be diminished. And vise-versa."

Mickey looked dismayed and looked at Terra, who also had a dismayed look. They now know the identity of the leader of Organization XIII, but… how are they going to beat him, since he and Terra share the same life force?

The brunette shook his head. "We'll cross that bridge later," he said, however Mickey and Yen Sid could sense his distress about the info. "Is there a way for me to regain my ability to wield my Keyblade?"

Yen Sid sighed and shook his head. Young ones are so impatient these days… "Very well," he sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. He straightened up and said, "Your power is not lost, however you will need to reclaim it in order for you to be who you once were again."

"I see," the brunette nodded.

"But where is it Master?" Mickey queried, seeing the complication of this.

Yen Sid merely waved his hand to the empty area on his right and a white portal, similar to the portals that the Organization and Riku used, appeared. "Go through this portal, and follow your charm to find the power. But you must be vigilant, and never let your guard down."

"Yes sir," the two nodded.

"Now go," the old magician pointed at the portal. The two nodded again and the two looked at each other.

"Let's go," Mickey exclaimed as he stood up in his seat.

"Let's," Terra stood up as Mickey jumped down onto his seat. The two went to the portal and walked into it.

When alone, Yen Sid bowed his head. "Master Yen Sid?" He heard an elderly female voice and looked to the source. Three ladies with small wings on their backs, dressed in red, green and blue came into the room through the door on the other side.

"Are you sure they'll be alright?" The red one – who was the source of the voice – asked, concerned for the two.

"…" Yen Sid looked back at the portal. "All we can do is hope that it'll end well..."

**Unknown Location**

"He's now on his way to regain his power…"

"_**I see… Let us prepare the second trial, Guardian of Hearts."**_

"As you wish…"

**With Terra and Mickey**

The winds blow the loose sand, being carried on in the large canyon. But, the marks on the rocks and grounds of the place weren't made naturally. No, these were made in a battle so ancient that it's considered how the worlds came to be…

And it was also here that, nearly eleven years ago, that tragedy befell upon three Keyblade wielders when they fought against the Lost Two.

And also, it is here that two figures, both familiar with this godforsaken world, set foot on the red brick colored dusty grounds, and stared in utter shock.

"… Here?" Terra was the first to break the silence, terrible memories of this place coming to his mind. "But… why would it be here, of all places?"

Mickey made a thoughtful look. "Hm…" Then he remembered something. "You did say that your armor fought against your possessed body here, right?"

"Yeah… I did," Terra nodded.

"Well…" Mickey trailed off and looked at the battle scarred canyon. "Maybe your power and your armor must be in this world somewhere."

"How can you know that?"

"Welp… We won't know until we look."

"…Alright…" The warrior nodded. He then dug into his pocket and pulled out his charm. "Let's hope this works."

He held out his charm and the two waited for something to happen. After a moment, Mickey looked confused. "That's odd, didn't Master Yen Sid said to-"

"WAAAAAAGH!" Terra suddenly screamed as the charm he was holding suddenly had a mind of its own and flew in one direction taking Terra with it; the King made a shocked look as he witnessed it.

"WAIT UP!" The mouse king cried out as he ran after the now flying brunette.

After flying/running for a while they reached a very large rock structure past the rows of abandoned Keyblades. When near it, the charm suddenly stopped moving. Terra hovered for a moment before he yelped and landed in a heap on the ground. "Ow…" He muttered, his voice muffled as he laid face-down on the ground.

At that moment, Mickey ran to his side and panted heavily. After regaining his breath, he looked up at the large structure before them as Terra picked himself up from the ground. No sooner that he did so, the charm jerked his arm upwards.

"It must be up there," Mickey said as Terra lowered his arm and pocketed the charm.

"… How are we supposed to get up there?" The brunette asked, scratching his head.

"No problem, just leave it to me!" Mickey exclaimed as he summoned his Keyblade. Raising it to the air, the tip light up brightly once, then an orb of light appeared around the two and started to rise up from the ground, with them in it. Then, it flew to the top.

"Woah!" Terra yelped out in shock.

"Don't move!" Mickey clenched his teeth and squeezed an eye shut. "It takes concentration to steady this thing!"

"Oh."

The two kept going up for quite a while before they reached the top. They hovered over to the ground and, after Mickey made the light ball disappear, their feet lightly touched the ground. They looked at the piece of land before them before they laid their eyes on a suit of black, red and gold armor kneeling on the ground with its hands resting on top of a blue and gold colored Keyblade embedded in the ground in front of it. Terra gasped upon seeing them.

"That's it! My armor and my Keyblade!" He exclaimed as he rushed over to the said objects before Mickey could even blink.

"Wait! Terra!" He tried to warn the brunette before some sort of force blew Mickey off of the large structure with a cry of pain.

Terra heard the cry, skidded to a halt and turned to where Mickey originally was. "Mickey!" He cried out in vain. He heard something like a squeal of metal protesting in a movement and the crunching of the ground under a pair of metallic feet. Terra turned on his heels to see that his armor had risen up from its kneeling position, the latter then yanking the Keyblade out of the ground.

Terra took a fearful step backward away from the living armor. "W-Wait a minute!" He raised his hands out in surrender, trying to reason with the armor. "I'm not possessed by Xehanort anymore!" The armor didn't seem to listen as it got into a fighting stance. "I mean it! Please!" Terra took another step back. "Don't!"

The armor rushed at Terra, who screamed in terror as he tried to use his arms in a pathetic attempt to defend himself. He shut his eyes and braced himself for an impact of some kind but… nothing came. Nothing but a wind howling around him and-

Wait.

Terra slowly lowered his arms and opened one of his eyes… and did a take at the black abyss around him, with the only light from… underneath?

He looked at the ground and gasped when he saw a stain glass orange portrait of himself, who appeared to be asleep, in his original clothes with his armor on his left arm and his Keyblade in his left hand. The background is of his homeworld, the Land of Departure, and in the circular pictures are of his friends and his teacher. He's now at the Station of Awakening.

"What's- What's going on?" He asked out-loud, but mostly to himself. He felt a weight in his right hand and looked down to see a sword that had appeared in his hand. He held it up to the air to look at it more closely, yet still confused about what's going on. A metallic rattle came from behind him, his senses kicking in. Turning around, he saw his armor standing there with his Keyblade in hand. It immediately dropped into a battle stance.

"_Defeat me… if you want… it back," _it said in a broken sentence. The owner of the armor's eyes widened in shook for a moment before a determined expression appeared on his face and he too dropped into a matching stance with the sword in his hand raised.

The armor quickly lunged with the Keyblade ready to strike. Terra quickly brought his sword up and blocked it. He shoved the armor off of him and tried to attack horizontally but the armor parried the blow and made a stab at him; however, Terra quickly back-flipped (with no hands too) away and landed a couple of feet away. The two then charged at each other and fiercely attacked, parried, and blocking each others blows.

Eventually, the armor managed to knock Terra into the air some feet high. The armor crouched down and jumped high into the air at Terra's level. Terra, with some effort, managed to maneuver himself and blocked the oncoming attack from the armor. Thinking quickly, he lunged his free hand forward, grabbed the Keyblade and, using the momentum, flipped himself into the air and literally drop-kicked the armor, sending it crashing toward the ground.

Terra landed on the ground, but the moment he did the Keyblade vanished from his hand. He looked at his hand in shock then at the armor, who shakily picked itself up. However, the armor reached out its hand and instead of the Keyblade returning, it was instead replaced by the sword Terra had been wielding. He looked down at where the sword was and grinned as he saw and felt the familiar blue and gold Keyblade in his hand.

"Alright, now its time to get **you** back," Terra said to the armor as he pointed the Keyblade at it. The armor looked up at him with an air of defiance before it charged at him again. Just before it reached him however, he suddenly started glowing in a pale yellow aura and leapt to the air and swung Keyblade horizontally, unleashing multiple bullets made of pure light aimed right at the armor which skid to a halt before the energy crashed into it. He suddenly swung his Keyblade the other way over his head and more energy came out of the tip of the Keyblade as he hovered in midair. The bullets homed in on the armor, crashing into it at high speeds. He swung it over his head again and more bullets came out and crashed into the armor. Then a ball made of light appeared around him and he thrusted his left arm at the armor, then many bullets fired at the armor, none of them missing their mark. Finally his feet touched the ground again, the armor hunched over as it 'panted' heavily from all the damage it received from Terra's Shoot Lock: Meteor Shower.

Then the brunette warrior jumped high into the air, and swung the Keyblade downwards, and slashed the armor as he landed on the ground. Everything went silent as the two became still, except for the wind that continued to blow in the Station of Awakening. Suddenly the armor fell apart, the being within not able to take more damage from the owner. The left shoulder guard rolled up to his feet. Terra bent down, picked it up and straightened up to examine it. The armor pieces started to glow white and then proceeded to vanish in streams of light that flowed into the single shoulder guard in his hand. Then the guard itself disappeared and then reappeared on his left shoulder.

Looking at the armor piece, he began to grin widely. "Alright!" Terra whooped as he jumped for joy. Although he's almost an adult (or close to it) and shouldn't do that, at that moment he didn't care. He's just plain happy that he's back to his old self. However, he didn't notice a whitish wisp floating at where the armor was.

"_**Begin the second trial," **_a metallic female voice suddenly said, making Terra to stop celebrating and made his eyes pop open at the sudden voice.

"What the-" he didn't finish when the wisp he didn't notice earlier decided to make itself known and shot through his back, coming out of his chest through the scar. Terra's voice was caught in his throat as the event happened; as soon as the wisp made it out of his body through the chest, the brunette took in deep breathes as he put his hand over his chest and noticed the wisp for the first time.

Instead of a ghostly white, it's now a grayish color. Suddenly, an inky black mass covered the gray colored wisp and began to expand. Terra watched on in shock as the black mass formed into one of the largest Pure-blooded Heartless he remembered reading about.

The Darkside Heartless.

"…The hell?" He managed to let out before the giant Heartless suddenly grabbed him with both of its hands, keeping a firm grip so he wouldn't be able to use his weapon. "AGH!" He screamed as he felt some sort of… surge coursing through his body, making him slightly weak. He felt as if most of his abilities are…

'_NO!' _Terra thought furiously with a snarl. There's no way in hell he's going to lose his powers again! With what seems to be combination of groaning/growling, he began using his strength to free himself from the Heartless' grip. Slowly but surely, the grip the black behemoth had on him began to loosen up. The Heartless seemed to have trouble keeping its grip on the brunette. Then, with a roar, Terra used all of his limbs and freed himself, pushing both hands away from his body. Using his limbs again, vaulted off the hands up into the air. He raised his Keyblade high and, with a battle cry, brought it down and cleaved the Heartless, continuing downward as he cuts the Heartless in half.

When he landed on the ground, the Heartless groaned as it disappeared in wisps of black smoke. "And don't come back… asshole…" He told the Heartless through pants. He slowly picked himself up and nearly fell over but caught himself using his Keyblade for support. As he was regaining his breath, he heard a curious sound. Looking up, he saw a small ball colored in pale yellow with a tint of pink in it; floating in the area where the chest of the Darkside Heartless was.

"_**You have done well passing your second trial," **_the voice from before suddenly said. Terra did a take and looked around for the source. _**"But that does not mean your hardships are over." **_The small ball lowered itself down at Terra's level, the brunette returning his attention to it. _**"Train hard. Become strong. You can help righten the balance that was disrupted years ago."**_

Still staring at the ball, the Keyblade warrior's hands instinctively began reaching out to the ball, as if to hold it in his hands. _**"And…" **_The ball suddenly shot into his chest. His voice choked in his throat and he began to fall back. _**"Use this chance to redeem not only you, but your darker half as well…"**_

Darker… half…? What did the voice mean?

He barely registered being engulfed in a sphere of light before everything went bright…

* * *

"Terra! Terra! Where are you?" Mickey hollered as he looked everywhere for the brunette.

When the King had been blown away by the force, he managed to save himself from falling all the way to the ground by using his light ball around himself. He flew back up to get to Terra, but before he reached the top, a bright light appeared on the top; when he got there, Terra and the armor was nowhere to be found! He then looked all over the place to find the brunette, but so far, no luck whatsoever.

"Doh… Where could he be?" Mickey asked himself as he looked around the area once more. "I hope he's alright…"

Just then, he spotted a pillar of light somewhat near his area. "That's gotta be him!" The mouse king deduced as he ran to where the light pillar was after it disappeared.

When he got there, he found the brunette haired young man, lying on his side unconscious. "Terra!" The King cried out as he ran over to the warrior. Once there, he shook him. "Terra! Wake up!"

The brunette let out a groan and squeezed his eyes before opening them. Mickey backed up to give Terra some room as the said warrior pushed himself up. It was then that the mouse king spotted the armor piece on his left shoulder, along with a gauntlet of sort on his left forearm, the sleeve of the cloak tucked into it.

"Say, you got your power back, did ya?" Mickey asked once Terra had gotten to his feet. The brunette looked at his left arm, and sure enough, there are his armor pieces. Terra made a small smile, held out his right hand and, almost like data but the numbers are replaced by small light blue see through cubes with blue small lightning bolts, there is his Keyblade: the Gaia Bane.

"Yup, but it wasn't easy getting them back," he stated as he slung his Keyblade over his shoulder.

"Alright!" Mickey jumped for joy. He then began walking back to where he felt the portal is. "We better go back and tell Master Yen Sid the good news!"

Terra nodded and put away his Keyblade. He then began to follow him but paused for a moment. He looked over his shoulder at the graveyard of the fallen Keyblade wielders. What did that voice mean? What trial? And what does it… or she mean by 'his darker half'?

Lowering his head a little, he turn to the direction of where Mickey went and hurried after him. Oh well, he can deal with it later…

However, he is unaware that someone else had gone through the nearly same ordeal he had…

**

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Well… I would've added more, but I figured that right here is a good spot to stop…**

**Anyways, Terra regained his armor and Keyblade but… …You know what? I'm not going to spoil it. You'll just have to stay tuned to the next chapter to find out.**

**By the way, I made a poll: Should Terra wear a new outfit in this story – the Organization coat doesn't count – or his old outfit in Birth by Sleep? I really can't decide... The polls will end after the next chapter. Go onto my profile and cast your votes; and please review.**


	7. Progress

_And here is chapter seven! No other comment._

_**Disclaimer: Square-Enix owns all, but not my OCs. And the plot sort of…**_

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* * *

**

**Progress**

"Keep your eyes on your opponent!"

"I'm trying!" Terra yelled, clad in his repaired armor, as he fired a Blizzard spell at a piece of wayward furniture that tried to attack him.

Watching from the top of the steps are Yen Sid and the three fairies, Flora, Fauna, and Merryweather. The three fairies watched on in anticipation while the old master watched on with a stoic expression, arms crossed.

Gripping his Keyblade tightly, he sliced another of the oncoming furniture with a battle cry. A lamp grazed his shoulder, the armor clad warrior instinctively gripping his shoulder. He did a take when a couch came flying at him and barely dodged it in time by diving to the ground. He pushed himself from the ground… until he hit the dirt again when a dresser nearly nailed him on the head.

Cursing under his breath, he pounced into the air, did a quick handspring and landed away from the other floating furniture, giving him enough space to try another Shotlock. He pointed his Keyblade at the furniture, locking on as many as he could. When he got a certain amount, he became coated in yellowish aura and literally zipped to the furniture, hitting as many as he could with his Keyblade. He spun around a little in the air before taking off like a blur again, hitting the remaining furniture until they all bite the dust.

The aura fading away, he lightly landed on the ground. "Yes!" He exclaimed, pleased with himself when he finally managed to control the Shotlock: Lightning Ray… until he was smacked onto the head by a piece of furniture that he missed and fell to the ground. "Ow…" He muttered as the furniture, a bookcase, just floated by. Of all things, how the hell did he manage to miss **that**? …Or maybe that one just appeared after he took out the others…

The three female fairies, whom started to cheer when Terra had managed to control another of his Shotlock attacks, covered their mouths to stifle their gasp and made sorry looks as they looked at the downed warrior. Yen Sid, though, made a bored expression when the young man forgot about his warning. He sighed through his nose. "I suppose a break would suffice," he said to everyone as the furniture disappeared in bursts of light.

Terra, still on the ground, only raised his arm and raised a thumb up.

Minutes later, Terra sighed in exhaustion as he plopped onto the ground, in the clothes he had worn eleven years ago, consisting a high-collared skintight dark gray shirt, two red straps crossed his torso, almost like suspenders, a pair of tan hakama with gray around the waist where the yellow badge of Master Eraqus is at the obi-sash-like belt, a lighter stripe of tan on the bottom hem, a black wristband on his right wrist, his armor still present on his left arm along with a black fingerless glove and his feet are now clad in his dark brown, gold and red armor boots; he had a towel hanging off of his neck, sweat trickling down his face. Using the towel, he patted off the sweat on his face.

"Terra," Flora began as the three of them go to Terra's side, the red clad fairy holding a cup of water. "would you like a drink?" She offered the cup to the brunette.

Gingerly taking the cup, he nodded in thanks. "Thank you," he said politely and took a swing of the cool liquid.

Yen Sid watched on the interaction of the four and made a small smile. In 51 days, the young man had managed to regain control over most of his abilities…

**51 days ago…**

The four in the Magician's Study waited patiently for Terra and Mickey to come back through the portal for what seemed like forever. Finally, Mickey stepped out of the portal followed by the brunette haired warrior, who now had his armor on his left arm. Yen Sid smiled proudly while the fairies rejoiced at their accomplishment. "I see that you're back to your old self Terra," the old master said.

The aforementioned young man nodded and summoned his Keyblade to prove it. "Yeah, but it wasn't easy…" He stated as he shouldered it.

The three fairies made happy faces. "That's wonderful dear," Flora said, getting the brunette's attention at them.

"Who are you?" He asked.

"Oh, pardon our manners," Flora smiled sheepishly. "My name is Flora," she looked at the green one, "This is Fauna," then at the blue one, "And this is Merryweather."

"We used to be Princess Aurora's caretakers until the events that happened almost eleven years ago," Fauna added.

Terra's eyes widened at the mention of the blonde princess then retracted. "…I see," he muttered, memories of his visit to the Enchanted Dominion coming to him…

No one seemed to notice though… except for Yen Sid who raised a brow a little.

Though, it's not only the mummer that he raised a brow at. He sensed something was a bit off with Terra… or more like his Keyblade.

"Terra," the brunette looked at the old wizard as he lowered his Keyblade. "Do you feel something… missing after you regained your Keyblade."

This received some odd looks from everyone else but Terra looked at his Keyblade thoughtfully. "…Now that you've mentioned it…" All eyes are on Terra at this. "I was at the Station of Awakening where I got my armor and Keyblade back. Suddenly, a large Pure-Blood Heartless appeared and grabbed me when I was caught of guard. I…" He clenched his free hand as he said the next sentence, "I felt some surge going through me, like it made me weaker…"

"Hm…" Yen Sid strokes his beard. Terra had a random (and corny) thought that it's a universal law for people with beards to stroke them. He doesn't remember Xehanort ever stroking his small goatee, but he must have when he was alone. Just as he was about to poke fun at the topic, Yen Sid suddenly said:

"Let us see how bad it is." Everyone else in the room blinked.

"Wait, what?" Terra let out.

The next thing he knew, he's outside of the tower, the retired Keyblade Master, Keyblade Master/King, and three fairies at the top of the steps, while he is at the very ground itself.

"Try to use your abilities on these 'opponents'," Yen Sid instructed. He circled his hand and held it out at an area in front of Terra. In flashes of light, random furniture appeared, levitating off the ground by magic.

The brunette nodded and got into his fighting stance. He attacked the closest one, destroying it on the third strike. Okay, he still has his strength, but…

Something feels missing.

And, unfortunately for him, he's about to find out.

He quickly spotted another furniture heading toward him, and ducked just in time. As he eyed it, he figured maybe a Fire spell aught to do the trick. With that in mind, he pointed the Keyblade at the hammock, and shouted, "FIRAGA!"

However, instead of a huge fireball like he intended, a small wisp of fire came out, along with a farting sound as the wisp appeared and disappeared.

"What?" The brunette exclaimed, shocked by seeing the weakened Fire spell. Even the fairies and Mickey looked shocked, while Yen Sid watched on. The brunette did a take and rolled out of the way from an oncoming couch.

'_Okay, maybe Meteor Shower ought to do the trick!' _After the thought, he quickly focused on each and every one of them. Getting a certain amount, he readied his Keyblade; however, he didn't notice that the Keyblade is **very **dimly lit.

"Shotlock!" He shouted, pointing his Keyblade at them. However, a very weak bullet only came out, wobbling as it slowly floated over to a vase. When it makes contact, it popped with a farting sound.

"…" The brunette had a very shocked look on his face. It worked moments before against his armor! What happen-?

His thoughts were broken as he was hit in the back of his head by a bookcase and fell flat on his face.

"…" The other four stared dumbfounded as Yen Sid had a stoic look on his face. Then, he finally said:

"It seems we have a problem."

**Now… **_(Day 53. XP)_

After healing the warrior's injury in his study, the old master told everyone about his theory about what happened to Terra: when the Darkside Heartless had a hold of the said brunette, it somehow weakened most of his known abilities. To simply put, it's as if he's back to apprentice level again.

But he quickly told them that Terra can control his abilities by training. Since he was close to the Master rank (and pretty much technically is), he could perhaps relearn them and control them in no time flat.

When Terra agreed to stay to train, Mickey informed them that he had to get going, for he still had to figure out more of what the organization is up to. After he said his reason, he wished Terra good luck left through the door. A moment after, Terra went after him; moments after again, the brunette returned to the room, saying that he went to see Mickey off before he left.

Yet… he noticed that he seemed… tense about something…

As he stared at Terra, trying to figure out his disturbance, the brunette asked for his armor to be fixed up, which the three fairies immediately offered to do so.

Getting back to reality, he checked over the progress of the young warrior's training. So far the brunette managed to regain control over most of his Command Styles, along with most of his abilities. He also regained control over his most Shotlocks, including Lightning Ray just then. Oddly enough though, according to what Terra said, the young warrior said that he doesn't remember how to perform his Dark-based abilities, along with his Command Style Dark Impulse and Shotlocks Black Volley and Sonic Shadow. It does seem odd, though they decided not to worry about it right now.

Although… Terra had been working none stop, perhaps determined to truly return to his old self before the tragedy years ago. He dug into his pocket and took out a pocket watch, seeing that it is now lunch time.

"Everyone, let us return inside for lunch," he called out to the four at the ground level.

"Is there cake involved?" Terra whipped his head so fast, the three fairies cried out in shock.

At Yen Sid's stern glare, the brunette faulted. "I'll be good…" He meeped, making the sorcerer shake his head with a sigh as he went into the tower.

It's weird that no one knew the young man had a **monstrous **sweet tooth…

Well, actually, not that bad. But still, it's pretty noticeable.

**The Sorcerer's Study**

Fortunately, lunch just happened to be some rice along with beef (much to the Keyblade warrior's disappointment), along with soy sauce **(If only there's some of mom's homemade gravy to go along with them… yum.) **So the five of them sat at the table and ate their lunch quietly. Though, Terra is the only one using chop sticks while the other four used forks and knives.

A moment later, Yen Sid looked up at the brunette, swallowing his piece of beef before speaking. "In a month and three-forth, you've managed to regain most of your abilities." Terra had a piece of beef in his mouth as he looked at the sorcerer.

Releasing the piece of beef from his mouth and placing the plate onto the table the brunette scratched the back of his head, quite pleased with himself as evident by the sheepish smile he made.

"However, you still have a long way to go to regain your powers fully," Yen Sid's next sentence shot down his thunder.

"Uh… right, I knew that," he defended lamely. "I will go back and train once we're done with lunch-"

"And another thing," the brunette was cut off by the elder wizard, "I believe you should have a day off. You have been training nonstop since arriving here."

"Well, yeah, I have to. If I'm going to be any help to defeat Organization XIII, I **gotta **get my powers back!"

"Yes, but you have to be strong physically **and** mentally," the wizard pointed out. "You cannot defeat your opponent with a clouded mind, lest your anger cloud your judgment."

Terra's eyes widened as he remembered his journey through the worlds and of his possession by Xehanort. He shook his head, trying to clear the images from his head, he hung his head. "You… have a point…"

Yen Sid nodded knowingly. "After lunch, you'll have your day off to wherever you feel will make you comfortable."

Then something stuck the brunette as odd. "Wait, how can I access to other worlds? I haven't regained the ability to turn my Keyblade into my rider yet-"

"Don't worry, you'll see later," Yen Sid with a smile and a certain glint in his eyes.

**After lunch…**

"Here Terra," the wizard handed a familiar star shaped object yet colored ruby red with an orange lightning bolt.

The brunette blinked. "The Star Shard?" He looked up at the older man. "Didn't Mickey use this nearly eleven years ago?"

"Yes," the sorcerer nodded. "But this one is modified to go to one world and a return trip back here."

Terra took the object from him and examined it. "Huh," he murmured, impressed a little.

"Now I suggest you go outside and let your heart decide where to go."

"Err… okay," the brunette said slowly, confused. The retired Keyblade Master stared at him with a stern look for a moment. It finally hit the Keyblade warrior. "Oh! Right! Sorry." He quickly hightailed it out of the tower, with the charm in hand.

As soon as the young man left, Yen Sid sweat-dropped behind his head. _'Is it just me, or has Terra been a bit slower lately?' _He asked himself. _'Maybe a break will do him good after all…'_

**With Terra…**

As soon as he set foot outside onto the ground, he looked around cautiously before looking at the red Star Shard again.

'_Let my heart decide where to go?' _He repeated in his head, _'How the hell is that going to work?' _But… he never doubted the sorcerer's wisdom once. So… he has to give it a shot, right?

However… he has, absolutely, no idea how to do that… He's never the one with magic after all. That's Aqua's specialty.

'_Oh, now I'm stalling myself! Now c'mon, think!' _He exclaimed in his head, covering his eyes with his right forearm, the hand still clutching the red Star Shard. After doing so, he tried to think of a place to go to.

He couldn't go to the Land of Departure; the last time he saw it, darkness was eating away at the world. He felt a pang in his chest and he quickly thought about something else. Twilight Town? No, most of the Organization members go there on missions, so that's out of the question…

Then… he remembered the world he went to, where he first met Riku and made the lad his successor. The light there felt… comforting…

Wait… is it just him or is the Star Shard in his hand getting warmer? He checked it and became shocked to see the shard glowing orange, with a pure white light encircling him, a strange warmth overcoming him. A flash of orange and white light appeared around where Terra is. When the light settled, though, Terra is gone.

**At the World That Never Was…**

Rain was slightly drizzling upon the Dark City. Neon lights blared brightly, though they sometimes flicker before blaring brightly again. A large skyscraper looms over at the middle of the city, a fair distance away from the castle of white steel.

However, in the middle of the road in front of the skyscraper, a lone figure with a black coat and a hood over his head stood there, unflinching as the rain fell upon him, and slid on down on the coat.

Puddles formed on the road, but, suddenly, they started to fill with some sort of black substance. Other black 'puddles' started to form around this being. Then, rising out of the 'puddles' are muscular looking thin 'shadows'; with long zigzag antennas, claws for fingers and glimming yellow, yet hollow, eyes.

They all twitched and moved a bit as they examined the being they surrounded.

_Heart…_

_Heart filled with darkness! _

_Dark filled heart!_

The figure, somehow, heard them talking amongst themselves; it's as if he was one of them. However, he became used to it whenever he went through the city. The first time was to clear his head of the problems they were having. The other times…

Under the hood, he smirked as he held out his right hand to the side. Some black energy, coursing with blue electricity, appeared in his hand before materializing into a weapon. A key shaped weapon…

_Keyblade!_

_It's a wielder of the Keyblade!_

_Devour the Keyblade bearer!_

They all pounced at the cloaked figure, ready to steal his heart. The smirk, however, didn't leave the figure's face; because **this** is what he wanted.

With the swipe of the Keyblade, all of the Neo Shadows are killed off in puffs of black and purple smoke. As soon as the Neo Shadows are gone, more rose up from the ground and attacked him. With the Keyblade in hand, he maneuvered his body athletically and began to cut down the Pure-Blood Heartless. A Neo Shadow quickly came up to his side to strike him; however (and quiet amazingly too at that) the figure back-flipped away from the Heartless, **literally** into the air and landed on one of the spikes sticking out of the skyscraper.

The figure's Keyblade glowed with dark energy as its wielder focused on the remaining Pure-Blood Heartless – who were wondering where their meal had went. When he got a certain amount he jumped into the air as a black aura surrounded him and used the same motion as a certain Keyblader did last chapter to fire off bullets made of dark energy, unlike the ones made of light energy.

The next thing the Heartless knew, they're being bombarded by multiple darkness powered bullets until they met their end when the figure used his left hand to fire off a barrage of energy bullets. After firing off the bullets and the Heartless gone – for now – the round sphere made of darkness vanished around him and he landed gently back onto the spikes before jumped off at the top of the stairs. The rain had stopped falling as soon as the Heartless had vanished and clouds began to disburse, letting the heart-shaped moon show its radiant yellow glow upon the world of nothingness. The moon's rays shined upon the figure's Keyblade, showing the blade in the color of brilliant silver and the guard crimson red before it disappeared in dark energy.

The figure looked at his hand and made an annoyed sound. _'It seems I can't control it yet…' _He thought bitterly. He clenched his hand. _'But… I have gotten this ability recently. No matter though,' _under the hood, Xemnas made a fiendish smirk, his amber yellow eyes glowing a bit, _'when the time comes, I probably won't need No. XIII, the puppet, __**and**__ Sora!'_ He chuckled sinisterly to himself.

"For now though… Roxas should resume gathering hearts for Kingdom Hearts," he silently mused to himself. "He's still useful… for now." He gave one last glance at the moon before letting himself being engulfed in a quick Corridor of Darkness he summoned then vanished from view.

Unaware to him, someone had eavesdropped on him. In fact, he had been watching him since Xemnas gained that inverted yet familiar Keyblade. From behind the large truck, the Freeshooter made a half-smirk and chuckled softly as he crossed his arms.

"You may have a bit of Terra's abilities," he mused to himself, "But you still have a bit of Master Xehanort within you…" With that, he vanished in a dark portal as well…

**

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Um… wow. Two months went by, like that… I am ****so**** sorry for the lateness! And so I stopped here because I figured I left you guys waiting for… a bit too long… And I'm sorry, but Terra is so fun to pick on! XP Well, okay, not really.**

**The next chapter will show where Terra ended up, and he'll meet up with a familiar face and a, somewhat, familiar yet not so familiar face. You'll see in the next chapter.**

**Btw, the poll has ended, and it looks like Terra wearing his old outfit wins. Anyways, I hope you'll look forward to the next chapter; review plz! **


	8. Xion

_CHAPTA 8! Things get a bit… interesting in this particular chapter._

_**Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts. Nothing else does. I own my characters and somewhat the plot.**_

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**Xion**

Everything was… black. Although… slowly, he began to hear a sound.

He wasn't able to make it out at first, but the sound soon became clearer in each passing second.

Now he's able to identify it. It was-

Waves. The sound of waves rolling…

Wait… where was he?

His eyes flickered under their lids, and they slowly opened. The warm blue sky, dotted with a few clouds, with the tops of some trees in the view, was a sight he first saw. The ground under him feels… cool. He felt some sand under his hands, cool yet dry under the shade of the trees.

He rose up carefully before moving to a sitting position, seeing the vast ocean in front of him. Above him, seagulls cawed as they flew around above him. It took him a few moments to clear his head before he realized where he was. Looking around, he noticed that he wasn't at the part of the island he was at years ago.

For one thing, there are more trees around this area, and a raft of sorts not far from him. He looked around some more before he remembered the Star Shard he had earlier. He looked around his person and found the Star Shard sitting at the end of his foot. Rotating his feet around to get onto his knees, he gingerly grabbed the shard and inspected it for any damage. Fortunately, he found none and sighed in relief. Standing up, he took in his surroundings and noticed a tower of sort not far from him, a slope of sort that goes upward to the upper level of a cliff above him. He noticed a line of sort connected the tower to something. He looked at where it lead and saw another tower above him on another cliff. Tilting his head curiously, he walked over to where he could reach the tower. He stopped his advancement when he saw a ledge – around his waist height – of sort with a small wooden fence next to the top. Taking a couple of steps back, he took a running start then bounded off the wall and onto the ledge.

As he walked, he stopped once again at the sight before him. It what looked like… what's best described as an obstacle course. Come to think of it… the way the trees and that tower back there are positioned made them look like they were a part of an obstacle course.

Deciding to push it into the back of his mind, he spotted a door on the other side of the platforms. Curious of what lies behind the door, he hopped across the platforms – though almost stumbled when he stepped on a loose board but managed to jump away before it fell – all the way to the other side. Opening up the wooden door, he was confronted with a near dark tunnel. On the other side though, are beams of light on creeping through the cracks on the door. Unafraid, the Keyblade Warrior pressed on.

He didn't know how long he walked in the passage way, but he guessed it was around 1-5 minutes. Regardless of how long he had been in there he reached the other door and pushed it open. He tried to shield his eyes as the bright sunlight shined through. His eyes squinted a little, having been in the dark tunnel for a bit. After his eyes got used to the light, he looked in front of him. And his jaw dropped a little as he stared, surprised…

…For in front of him is a familiar small island with a bridge connected to it.

Closing the door behind him, he walked along the beach line and stopped at an area between the dock and the bridge to stare out at the ocean. This… this is the world he was on years ago. He looked back at the door he emerged from. Was the cove the back part of this island?

…Maybe it is.

Looking back out at the ocean, he took a deep breath through his nose and sighed softly through his mouth. He looked at the island with those star shaped fruits hanging from the bent tree.

He didn't realize that his feet made their way to the shed until he found himself inside. The inside is nicely shaded and he looked up at the wooden spiral stairs that lead to the upper level. He slowly made his way up the stairs, his hand caressing the wall as he does so. Reaching the other door, he opened it and found himself at the small cliffside with a thin palm tree, a thicker tree and a flag pole. But he didn't pay them any mind as he made his way across the bridge over to the smaller island.

Once he reached it, he stood at the middle of the island for a moment. Then he made his way to the front of the large bended tree. His hand caressed the bark as he walked by it and sat down, his back leaning against it as he stared out into the ocean.

As he did, he thought about recent events that occurred since he has been around for… 53 days, maybe?

However, even though Yen Sid said that he was only here to… 'relax' and to ease his mind… he just couldn't.

Not after… what happened those days ago…

_**-Flashback!-**_

_After walking out of his master's tower, Mickey made his way to the magical train that brought the two of them here earlier, to get back to Twilight Town. He was near the train when-_

"_Mickey!" Startled, the mouse king turned to the source and saw the brunette warrior (still in the black coat) running up to him._

"_What's up Terra?" The small Keyblade Master got straight to the point when the brunette neared him. _

_The young man suddenly made an unsure look, as if contemplating what he should say, biting his lower lip a little. Then he looked back at the small king. "Mickey… Everything that… we've heard, about me and Xemnas sharing the same life force…"_

_Mickey waited for the brunette to continue, but when he didn't, the former pressed him on, "And?" He had a confused look as he does so._

_Terra sighed, palming his face and sliding it down until it went past his chin, his eyes closed. He looked at the king dead in the eye. "Keep this a secret to Riku and anyone else."_

_The king jumped, completely shocked by what he just heard. "What! But Terra-"_

"_Listen!" The brunette cut him off. He took in a deep breath before continuing, "I – I know I made a promise, to live out my life for my friends. But…" he trailed off for a bit then resumed, "for anyone to stop Xemnas, it-it has to done!"_

"_B-But Terra, you haven't been around for a long while. Can't you- I mean, should there be-"_

"_I'm not sure even __**if**__ there's another way," the brunette countered._

_The two were silent for a moment._

"_Your still going with this, are you?" It wasn't a question; it's a statement from the king._

"… _Yeah," the warrior nodded. "I figured… everyone would be better off if they didn't know. Would you hesitate if you knew about that information if you confronted him?"_

"_Well, yeah," the king admitted. _

"_But if you didn't, everything will be in peace eventually, right?" When the king didn't say anything, the brunette continued, "Even – Even though, that I've just came back, I'll accept whatever fate that'll happen to me… even death."_

_Sensing how serious the brunette was, the king sighed. "Alright," he said reluctantly, "I won't tell anyone about what we heard and your connection to Xemnas."_

"_Thanks," Terra nodded. "Good luck on your journey to find out what the Organization is about." _

"_And good luck on re-mastering your skills."_

"_Right." _

_With that, the mouse king put the hood over his head and entered the train. He gave one last look at Terra before the doors closed, blocking the brunette's view of the king. The train let out its whistle and chugged through the portal that'll take him back to the town of twilight._

_After watching him leave, the warrior started his way back to the tower. However he didn't make it far when his chest suddenly felt warm and… tingly? Startled, the brunette stopped in his tracks and scratched at his chest. The tingliness didn't go away, and he scratched a bit harder. He made an uncomfortable look, along with an irritated groan, before looking at his chest-_

_He blinked confusingly. The scar is glowing slightly if only for a few seconds, then stared again a couple of seconds later. Sort of like a heartbeat._

_Trying to forget about the… strange occurrence, he continued on to the tower. However, the sensation only grew stronger as he got close to the steps. When he was at the front, however, he clutched at his chest, grimacing as the tingly sensation started to throb – though not painfully like back at the woods in Twilight Town – making him stop in his tracks._

'What the- What the hell is going on here?' _Terra exclaimed in his head. _

_Then… he felt, a presence of sorts. But where is it-_

_Wait! It's behind him!_

_Slowly, he turned to his head to glance over his shoulder… and spotted a figure in a black coat, with a hood over his face, hiding it in darkness. The two of them made eye contact with each other, and Terra was frozen in place._

_He couldn't explain it, but… there's something _inside _him, trying to reach out to that figure. Some sort of tightness forming inside his chest. The two remained staring at each other for what seemed like forever. _

_Suddenly, although he couldn't see the rest of the face, he managed to see a yellow-orange eye along with a tanned jaw. And he saw that the figure is… smirking. But the smirk is not friendly; no, the smirk was very… fiendish._

_A rather, familiar smirk at that._

_Terra, although he had no idea how or why, blinked; however, when he opened his eyes… the figure is gone…_

_It's as if they vanished in thin air…_

_Nonetheless though, whoever that was… completely unnerved him… _

"_Who… Who was that…?" He asked himself softly. _

_**-End flashback!-**_

From that day, it had left the earth knight completely unnerved.

Those eyes… they remind him of Xehanort's. Cold, cruel, and… completely apathic towards another human life…

He wasn't even sure what the hell that… _feeling_ is about!It's as if… Something inside him is trying to rip out of him, like some infant alien is bursting out of his chest from some movie **(ten points for anyone if you can guess what the movie is)**.

He didn't tell Master Yen Sid or the three fairies about it; they most likely have too much on their plate.

Though, for some reason, he felt that it's something that not even the retired master could figure out; and only him could find out…

As he looked across the horizon, he drew his legs toward himself until he was hugging his knees to his chest. The soft sound of the waves… felt so soothing to him. The air is warm, reminding him of the Land of Departure. He never thought he missed this air; the air he felt so accustomed to on the world he spent his life at.

He truly missed the old days, back before… _he_ ruined everything…

Before he even realized it, his eyes closed and he drifted off to sleep…

_

* * *

He laid crumbled on the floor, blood flowing out of the gashes given to him. He is panting heavily from his earlier battle, taking the blows from his two opponents, and his struggle to stay alive. He was slowly slipping to unconsciousness; and he felt that, another strong attack from (X) would do just that. _

_He felt his torso being grabbed by that black monster (G) had with him. He groaned slightly, blearily opened his eyes, focused on the limp form of (X) on the ground; his eyes shifted over to the others watching on in horror, unable to do anything from behind the barrier._

"_Well now Terra," his gravely voice brought the earth knight's attention back to him, his wicked smile upon his lips, "I believe its time we finish this." The (G) moved him over so he could look at his face. "Now… any last words?"_

_He then did what he's capable to do in his weakened, pinned form: spit on the old man's face. "Go to hell," he managed to say._

_(X) snarled at the warrior's defiance… then sneered with a sadistic smile and grabbed the earth knight's throat, raising him into the sky with no effort at all when his monstrous - released him, leaving the warrior gasping for breath._

_He feebly tried to get the old man to release his grip on him, but in this state, what __can__ he do?_

"_Now, now, don't struggle," the dark Keyblade Master chided, still with that smile. His hand crackled with lightning as he said, "It'll all be over __**soon**__!"_

_As soon as he said the last word came pure, agonizing __**pain**__! He screamed as much as he could be able to as lightning course through his body. His hands, when they released their grip on (X)'s hand, twitched violently along with the rest of his body._

_He could barely hear the others cry out his name in horror over his own screams._

_Never… Never before had he felt something like __**this**__ before! There are other times he went through things painful than the last but this - THIS… is truly unbearable-_

_Finally, the dark master stopped his attack and released his grip around the warrior's neck, letting him land on his feet and fell forward. _

_He could barely hear the voices of the others as (X) backed up as he fell; everything started to blur as his eyes grew heavy, no longer surrendering to his will. _

'Aqua… Ven… Everyone… I'm sorry…' _Was his last thought before everything went black, before he even hit the floor-_

"!" Terra gasped out as he awoken from his dream. He remained sitting there for a moment before letting out a shuddering sigh, massaging his temple slightly.

What… What the hell was **that** about?

It was… unlike anything he ever seen before. He felt that he was **in** the dream; the pain felt way too real! He remembered seeing other people and hearing their voices, but – in the… 'dream', he figured it was – the people he saw were complete blurs and the voices were… distorted- but he did hear them in his _mind_!

But… it must be a sign, or something…

"Who am I…?" He suddenly heard a young female's voice. In fact, it sounded like it's-

As silently as he could, he moved his body so he could peak from behind the tree. To his surprise, he saw Riku holding onto…

At first, he couldn't believe his eyes.

It couldn't be… _'Ventus?'_

It can't be! Mickey said that Ventus is in a coma! So how-

"What am I… here for?" The same female's voice continued to ask; though Terra's eyes couldn't help but widen in shock. Because the same voice came from the suppose Ventus.

'_The hell?' _He muttered in his head. He blinked-

And stared in shock that 'Ventus'… was actually a young black haired girl in a black coat, like what the organization members, Riku, Mickey and himself wore. The girl appeared to be asleep, cradled in Riku's arms. The said boy brushed some of her hair from her face and stared at her face.

The silver haired boy's head turned to his left behind him, as if watching something go. A moment after, he returned his attention back to the girl.

"You can come out of hiding, Terra," he said to the hiding brunette.

The warrior blinked; how did he know he was here? Deciding to find out, pulled himself up using the tree and walked out of hiding. "How did you know I was here?" He went straight to the point and asked.

"…" He bowed his head a little. "Let's just say… I had experience with Darkness. And now, I have the same senses as a Heartless."

At the older teen's silence, the silvernette continued, "With this ability, I can tell if a person is good or bad, just by smelling a scent around their hearts."

"Heartless can do that?" The brunette queried, clearly surprised.

"Yeah, that's how Heartless can hunt for more hearts." The silvernette nodded.

"Huh…" The earth knight turned his attention to the black haired girl. "Who's this?" He asked, indicating her.

The young teen gazed at the girl's face. "This… this is Xion," he said, "The Organization's number 14."

The elder teen tilted his head a bit. "Wait a sec, I thought that it's called-" He did a take when he recalled what Naminé told him days ago. "Oh, that's right…"

"I guess Naminé told you that she's a replica, right?" Riku bluntly stated.

"Yeah… I guess," Terra murmured, shifting his eyes away from the two. Looking at them again, he asked, "What is she doing here, anyway?"

"She ran away from the Organization, so she can find out who she is," the silver haired boy explained, brushing some of Xion's hair away from her face, "Look at her now…" From the way he said it, it sounded like he felt sorry for this girl.

The Keyblade warrior looked at the black haired girl, and noticed that she looked… so sad, as she slept. And Terra couldn't help but feel sorry for the girl as well.

At that moment, she opened her eyes, in the color of bluish-purple and made a gasp so small it's barely audible. "Are you…"

"Riku," he introduced himself. After a pause, he added, "Sora's friend."

"Sora?" She exclaimed, moving to sit up and look at Riku. "You know Sora?"

After a moment, he nodded. "Yeah." He pushed himself up and offered his hand to her. She took it and let the silvernette pull her up.

It was then she noticed the elder Keyblade wielder. "…Who are you?" She queried, the two turning their attention to the brunette. When she turned fully to him, the earth knight – for a split second – saw Ventus in her place then returned to normal.

Shoving the oddity into the back of his mind, he introduced himself. "Terra. I'm a friend of Riku's."

Xion tilted her head a bit; his voice sounded familiar…

Shaking her head slightly, she returned her attention back to Riku. "Thank you." She looked genuinely confused as she said, "You saved me, but I don't know why," she paused, unsure to continue then she finished, "you did."

"I guess…" he turned away and started to walk off. "I just felt like it."

Terra made a face at his successor's behavior towards her. But it seemed like Xion isn't going to let him leave.

"Riku, please…" She pleaded. "Tell me more- about Sora and that girl he's always with."

The question made the silver haired boy stop his departure. He was silent for a while before:

"You mean Kairi." He corrected the raven haired girl. Terra just watched on, analyzing the situation.

Kairi…" She muttered aloud, putting a palm on her right temple. "That's right. She's the one who looks so much like me."

Riku promptly walked back to her and explained, "To Sora, she's someone very special."

Ah. So Sora likes Kairi eh? Terra made a wistful grin at the thought.

"It's just…" the girl began, and she started to pace toward a tree, a hand on her cheek, "I remember things about the two of them. But I'm nothing more than a puppet-" the grin vanished from Terra's face when she said it, lowering her hand to her chest, "something that somebody created."

She leaned against the tree, looking tired, confused and… completely sad. "So why would I have… their memories?"

The two stared at her, Terra looking very sorry at her while Riku felt sorry for her on the inside.

After a moment, she looked at Riku. "Do you know where Sora is now?" She asked.

"That secret stays with me," he said bluntly.

Undaunted, Xion turned her head away. "Why's that?"

"Xion…" This was the first time Terra ever saw the silvernette at lose for words. After a moment, he continued, "your memories… they really belong to Sora." Xion perked her head as the earth knight looked at the raven haired girl, completely shocked by this fact.

She turned her head back to Riku. "So you mean… I'm like a part of him?"

Riku walked up to her as he explained, "When his memories were scattered, some of them… found their way inside you." At that point, Xion bowed her head, in apparent pain, and held her forehead.

"Now, Sora has been put to sleep so that we can piece together his memory." He continued as he stopped next to Xion. "Except…"

"You can't," she continued for him, "because part of it is inside of me. That means… he can't wake up."

"Yeah," the silvernette confirmed, "You got it. But, if you go with me to Sora right now, we could give the memories inside you back to him."

Terra was reminded of his friend Ventus, in a similar situation as Sora. Just how important is this Sora?

"So," Xion began, brushing her hair out of her face, breaking the earth knight from his thoughts, "do you hate me for taking your friend away from you?" She looked at Riku, looking stern as she waited for an answer. Terra also looked at his successor, for his answer.

"Nah," he said softly, surprising Terra; the brunette's eyes shifted toward Xion. She didn't make an expression but he had a feeling that the response also surprised her; and he glanced back at Riku. "I guess… I'm just sad."

Xion let out a very small 'oh' at that. "I'm sorry," she bowed her head, "but… I can't go with you. It's my friends-" she looked at her hand as she added: "they need me. And I need them, too." She clenched it and held it to her chest.

Riku didn't say anything and softly placed his hand on her shoulder, making her look up at him in surprised. "Maybe…" He began, "you should take some time and think about it. Figure out who really needs you more. And where you belong."

"How will I know where I belong, truly?" She asked.

"I'm not sure," she lowered her hand and hung her head, "I can promise you I'll come up with the right answer."

"Well, the answer you come up with," he assured her, "can't just be right for you. It has to be one that works best for everybody; you and your friends and everyone else." He took his hand off of her shoulder and hung his head a little. After a moment he looked at the elder Keyblade wielder. "Terra."

"What is it?"

"You should probably also keep this in mind too." Terra and Xion gave Riku strange looks at that. "I had a feeling… that you might be in a similar situation in the future. I'm not sure what though."

Terra stared at his chosen for a bit then nodded. "Alright. I'll keep that in mind."

Riku nodded as well. "I'll see you later then," he indicated to both Xion and Terra and walked off.

"I'll… I'll try," looking at his retreating back she murmured, "Thank you, Riku."

Terra lowered his head and began to leave as well. "Excuse me," Xion's voice stopped him, "but… you looked familiar. Why is that?"

"Uh…" Terra thought desperately to think of an excuse or… something…! If she thought he resembled Xemnas, he's in trouble.

"I think… I saw you before… Maybe it's from Sora's memories?" She titled her head and scratched it a bit.

"Um… I don't think we properly met," Terra informed her. Turning to look at her, he continued, "When did you leave the Organization?"

"Oh… A day after that person appeared suddenly at the World That Never Was."

Strange person? Well… that explains how he ended up in jail…

When Terra moved his head to look out at the ocean, his bangs hid his eyes.

Wait… she felt like she had seen that face before…

"Do you… come here often?" The girl continued to ask.

"Actually… I once visited this world," the brunette warrior corrected. "…It felt so long ago, the light," as he talked, he slowly walked over to the tree and hopped onto the bended tree, sitting there, "in this world is so warm… Pure. It led me here, and that's how I met Riku."

"I see…" Xion nodded thoughtfully. There's something familiar about this person… She couldn't put her finger on it though.

They stayed there in silence, the sound of waves rolling only sounding out. Then, the raven haired girl had an idea.

"I guess it's a shame that Ven and Aqua aren't around," she said carefully.

"Yeah," the brunette nodded, not really paying attention to what she said, "Those two would love it here if all three of us are here together." He didn't notice that the younger girl had a mischievous grin on her face.

Suddenly, he realized what he said. "I mean-"

"I knew it!" She exclaimed with a playful tone. "You are the person who escaped from the castle and defeated Saïx!"

Crap! She's a smart one!

"…What of it?" He said carefully.

"Well… before I left, every member was ordered to capture you when Xemnas found out about you." She shrugged. "We're not sure why though."

Now this is certainly odd. Why would Xemnas be after him?

But… surely this girl wouldn't be able to subdue him…

"Why were you in the Organization?" He decided to ask.

"Because of this," she raised her right hand as she said it. An energy of light appeared in her right hand, along with sparks of light and a weapon appeared. But not just a weapon – a Keyblade; a rather familiar Keyblade at that.

The brunette did a take at the sight and jumped off of the tree, going up to her. "Where did you get that?" He partially demanded.

"Actually," the girl muttered, looking at her weapon, "I'm not sure. Me and Roxas pretty much woke up and could always wield one…"

Terra made a look of disbelief. "You're kidding, right?"

Xion made a sheepish look, making the earth knight palm his face, sighing as he shook his head.

Through the crack of his fingers, he stared at the Keyblade the young girl has. Lowering his arm, he held out his hand. "May I look at it?" He asked politely.

Xion looked at her Keyblade then at Terra and back again before nodding. "Alright." She handed her Keyblade to the brunette, who gently takes it from her. He held it upwards, the tip pointing to the sky, turning it about a couple of times, examining it like a professional blacksmith who just finished his finest work. He tested its weight to see how heavy it is.

He's not sure why but something feels… off with this Keyblade…

Letting out a 'hm', he handed the weapon back to her. "Here," he said, holding it out for her.

"Thank you," she said softly as she took back her weapon. She looked at her weapon, quiet confused; normally, when someone else tried to hold her Keyblade, it would come back to her a few seconds later. Come to think of it, Riku could also hold onto it for a long time…

Looking back at him, she asked, "Could you also wield a Keyblade?"

Terra stared at her for a bit before nodding, even summoning it for her to see; his trusty weapon appearing in a swirl of data cubes and electricity.

The girl became awed at seeing another Keyblade. One completely different to her and Roxas' Keyblades.

Though, why was his different?

The earth knight looked watched her as she looked at his Keyblade. "You've… never seen another Keyblade?" He asked slowly.

Xion shook her head. "No. The only Keyblade I've saw next to mine is Roxas', though… his is identical to mine."

Now THAT was strange…

Two of the same Keyblade appearing? It's almost unheard of.

Looking at the '14th' member, he decided to test out her strength. "Hey, how about a little spar?" He shouldered his Keyblade, "I wanna see how well you wield it."

The girl did a take. "Really?"

"Yeah, but…" The brunette glanced around the island they were on, seeing that it was a bit too small for a spar. "This island is a bit too small." He looked over at the beach and pointed. "Let's go over there and do it."

Xion looked in the direction he pointed then back at him and nodded. "Alright." She dismissed her Keyblade, the brunette doing the same, and walked onto the bridge.

Terra began to follow her before he paused. He turned his head to look at the star shaped fruits hanging in the tree and pulled out his orange good luck charm. _'An unbreakable connection, huh?'_

He pocketed the charm and quickly ran the bridge to catch up to Xion, who just walked into the shed to go down. As they went down the stairs, Terra noticed a couple of wooden swords lying on the sandy ground. When the girl walked out of the shed, he went over to the swords and picked them up. Studying them, an idea struck him, like a mule just suddenly kicked him on the jaw.

He quickly went to catch up to the raven haired girl, both of the swords in his hands.

Once they got onto the beach, they faced each other, though Xion made a curious look when she saw the wooden swords.

"Okay," Terra began, "since using Keyblades is not only dangerous, but since I have more experience with the weapon, I don't want to accidentally hurt you."

Xion made an annoyed look. "I'm not as weak as you think!"

"I never said you are," Terra insisted, shaking his head. "I don't want to feel guilty if I accidentally hurt you, or worse."

"… Alright, if you insist," the girl nodded. She yelped when she barely caught her sword, when he tossed it at her.

"Alright, let's get started!" Terra declared as he got into stance.

Xion nodded and held her weapon in both hands, crouching a little.

For a moment, the brunette saw his best friend in the similar stance in Xion's place. Terra did a take then shook his head a little and returned to his stance. They didn't move for a bit before they charged at each other and drew their weapons back to strike each other.

**A bit later…**

The sun began to set, turning the sky and the sea an orange color. The sky also has the color of red, purple and a bit of golden yellow as well. This was a sight the two Keyblade wielders looked at as they laid on the beach, exhausted but relaxed.

Terra sighed tiredly through his mouth. "You're pretty good," he admitted to the raven haired girl.

"You-You weren't kidding when you said you're- experienced," the girl said through pants. "But... Thank you for the compliment."

The brunette pushed himself up and looked at the sunset, the young girl following suit. "No problem."

"Wow…" the girl marveled, watching the sunset. "This sunset reminds me of the sunset I watched with my friends…" At the mention of her friends, she frowned and hung her head in sadness.

Seeing the look, Terra tried to come up with something to help her feel better. However, he was curious about what she does with her friends. "When do you watch the sunset?"

The girl went silent, not saying anything for a bit as she drew her legs towards herself, hugging them. "After we do our missions," she spoke quietly, "the three of us would usually go to the clock tower in Twilight Town, to watch the sunset and eat ice cream." She paused a bit before she continued, "Roxas invited me up there one day, and the two of us became friends. When Axel came back, the three of us became friends, and started going there after work." She sighed softly. "Those days were good until… recent events happened…"

"I see…" The brunette went silent, thinking of what else to say. Although, Xion's description of them hanging out after a hard day's work reminded him of his time with his friends…

Very slowly and quietly, he began to speak. "Back when my friends were around, and after training, the three of us would go to a plateau and gaze at the stars above us. But… some things happened. In the end, I became separated from my friends and… perhaps I'm the only one left…"

Xion didn't say anything, letting the words sink in. "…I'm sorry…" She apologized so softly that Terra almost didn't hear it. The brunette only let out a 'hm' in response.

The two of them stared out into the horizon for a while. It felt as if the Keyblade warrior could fall asleep again until the female wielder let out a surprised 'Oh!' Looking at the female to see what's wrong, she got up from where she sat and hurried over to the shoreline. The brunette slowly stood up and trailed after her.

The 14th member reached the shoreline and stooped down to grab something on the sand. Straightening up, she stared down at the seashell sitting at the palm of her hand.

When the brunette got close to her, he asked, "What's up?"

Turning to him, she showed him the shell. "This."

The earth knight blinked, tilting his head a bit as he looked at it curiously. Digging into his pocket, he pulled out his charm and compared the two to each other.

"They nearly look the same…" Xion noted, seeing the resemblance between the two. Looking at the charm again, she asked, "Where did you get that?" Whoever made it surely is skilled to make something pretty.

**(Hm… this requires some fitting music! –'Aqua's Luck Charms' begins to play-)**

"A friend of mine made it actually," he replied, gazing at his charm. "She made three of them in all, this one being a part of the other two my two friends have. It's so that, whenever we're apart, these charms will keep us connected to each other, no matter what."

"Connected?" The girl parroted, blinking in confusion.

"Yeah," the brunette nodded. He racked his mind for an explanation for the charm when his eyes shifted over to a star shaped fruit that conveniently washed up on the beach. Smiling, he began.

"On this world, there's this tree with star shaped fruit. And the fruit represents an unbreakable connection. So as long as you and your friends carry good luck charms shaped like it, nothing can ever drive you apart. You'll always find a way to get back to each other." The brunette made a sad smile at the charm. "An unbreakable connection…"

"An unbreakable connection…" Xion repeated, looking thoughtful. "Huh…" She looked at the seashell thoughtfully and rubbed her chin with her finger.

"If you want, you could make your own," Terra offered, "Even though the charm you make will be different than mine, it'll always have the same effect."

Xion didn't meet his gaze, still staring at the seashell in thought. Finally, she smiled and looked at him. "Yeah… I guess I will." She nodded once. "Thank you Terra."

Terra grinned and feathered her head, like he always does with Ven. "No problem, Xion."

**(-End music-)**

The two looked at the horizon once again and saw how late it was. "Well… I have to get going," the earth knight proclaimed, "I've stayed here too long."

The young Keyblade wielder looked sad at that. "Will I see you again?"

The brunette smirked and feathered her hair again. "Don't worry, we'll meet again somewhere down the road," he assured her, "So don't consider this a 'good-bye', alright?"

When the brunette took his hand off of her head, she smiled at him. "Okay," she nodded.

The brunette nodded back at her and walked away.

As soon as he's out of sight, Xion looked at the shell again. "An unbreakable connection…" She repeated softly. Nodding, she clenched the shell and combed the beach for more identical shells.

**With Terra**

Once he was sure Xion wouldn't see him, he dug into his pocket and pulled out the red Star Shard. "Alright, you got me here," he muttered to it before raising it into the air, "Now take me back to the Mysterious Tower!"

He felt the small Gummi Block becoming warm as it glowed orange with a white aura surrounding him. A flash of orange and white light appeared engulfing Terra, and when it faded, Terra is gone once again.

**Unknown location**

"Looks like he's easing up," a male voice commented with an image of the Mysterious Tower in some sort of distortion.

"Although, I seriously doubt that this will work…" Another male's voice grumbled, as the same orange and white light that engulfed Terra appeared, and the brunette stood in the place where the light once was.

"You must have faith brother…" A gentle female voice chided as Terra made his way to the tower. "I'm sure that those two can truly redeem themselves."

The second male sighed. "Fine. I'll shut up about it…"

"And like what she said," The first voice added, "We just have to wait and see…"

**

* * *

Yes… I can be a cruel person if I wanted to. The dream Terra had is the foreshadowing of events to come. See if you can guess what the initials are! **

**And yes, there are more than those two mysterious beings. Trust me; all of them have an important role in the story. I won't tell what it is though!**

**The next chapter will have a special surprise! And what is the surprise? Well, you just have to stay tuned and find out! So until then, review, wait patiently, and I'll try to update as soon as I can! **


	9. Master

_And here's chapter nine. …I seriously have no idea when this took place…_

_**Disclaimer: Kingdom Hearts and everything in it are owned by Square-Enix and Disney. I only own my OCs and the plot.**_

_**P.S. I developed this concept about the armor since it strikes me odd that there could be armor on them all of this time…**_

**

* * *

Master**

The owner of a pair of yellow-orange eyes gazed at the large heart-shaped moon at the very top of the castle. Bit by bit, it was growing larger with numerous hearts flowing towards it. All thanks to Roxas and the puppet.

But.

He noticed that his Keyblade Wielders were not entirely under his control.

No. VIII had recently retrieved Xion a couple of days ago. No. XIII had asked about 'Sora' the day after she returned; though he had a feeling that the young Nobody didn't know that Sora is his other.

And then there's _him_.

It's been nearly 78 days since he had appeared. Though it's been 77 days since he heard some interesting… info; as well as the first time he saw him. Saïx was right; the two of them **do** look alike. Minus the hair length and color, different skin color, eye color and different ages; though, the two do have the same facial frame.

And yet…

"He is the light," he raised his right hand and stretched his fingers, "while I," black energy appeared in his hand, coursing with blue electricity; but one could faintly see red and silver transparent cubes appearing along with them, "am darkness." His fingers curled around into the energy, just as a weapon formed.

The shaft of the weapon is in the color of silver, the edges a brighter silver. The teeth are made of two pick-like points, with two hammer-like protrusions on the opposite side. The guard is a scarlet red color, and seems to be crafted from two Omega insignias, the pommel a crimson red cone. The token on the keychain looks like a rock fragment with a Nobody symbol on it.

Bringing the weapon to his eye level, the Superior gazed at the Keyblade in his hand. It looks like the Keyblade once wielded by… his half; except… colored differently.

The first day he got this was around the time Xion left the organization (not that he cared), also when he was ambushed by Pure-Blood Heartless when wondering around the Dark City.

Now, what they originally thought about the Keyblade is broken. All because of _his_ appearance; things he couldn't have imagined with what the Keyblade could do!

Command Styles, Shotlocks, hell, there's no telling what they're able to do…

Giving the Keyblade one more glance, he dismissed it and looked up at the sky.

After a while, he smirked. A very fiendish smirk.

"Perhaps it is good you've appeared after all…" He chuckled fiendishly then teleported somewhere else…

**49 days later, at the Mysterious Tower…**

In a spare bedroom, the young man known as Terra looked dead to the world as he slept on in his bed. As he slept, he dreamed… and also began to talk in his sleep. "Sure Aqua… I'd love to dance with you…" He mumbled, turning over in his sleep.

At that moment, the three fairies poofed into the room, and noticed him, still dead to the world.

They looked at each other… and nodded, the three of them sharing mischievous looks.

"Ready girls?" Flora asked, sharing a grin with the other two.

"Ready!" They chirped. They twirled their wands and in unison, fired their beams – in their respective colors: red, blue and green – at the slumbering teenager…

_Terra's Dream Sequence:_

_The ballroom was incredibly fantastic. The musicians played beautiful music, prompting everyone there to dance. In the crowd, two certain people stand out._

_The two are none other than Terra and Aqua. The brunette is wearing an elegant gentleman's outfit while Aqua is wearing a dress, just as elegant as his._

_(__**A/N: For visual aid, picture Terra wearing the outfit Lloyd wore in Tales of Symphonia, only it's black and red, without the straps and the ribbons (the ascot is also red) while Aqua's dress is the one Tiana wore in Princess and the Frog (before she met Frog Naveen) except the tiara and its colored in shades of blue.)**_

_The two of them danced around in rhythm, reminding him of Cinderella and the Prince when they danced together. _

"_Terra, I never knew you could dance so well!" The bluenette exclaimed in awe, the two twirling in rhythm of the music._

"_Funny, neither did I," the brunette admitted, grinning like a fool as they continued to dance._

_Aqua giggled a little and her azure blue eyes peered into his cobalt blue orbs. The two closed their eyes and leaned towards each other, their lips puckering a bit-_

_Suddenly, everything went black, the record scratching as it does so._

"_**What the-"**_

_Suddenly, a pair of beady black eyes and big puffy red lips appeared in the darkness. "Hi," the owner said, rather creepily with a scary tone of a high pitched voice. __**(Guess who? XP)**_

_:End Dream Sequence (which comically shatters like glass)._

The brunette screamed, jolting awake with his hands clutching tightly onto his bed sheets. He panted heavily, patting his chest to calm his beating heart from the dream he had. It had started out so nice, too, but…

He shuddered as he remembered the creepy ass face with that… _creepy_ tone…! A part of him hoped that he wouldn't have that dream again…

He heard giggling next to his bedside and looked at the source. Covering their mouths, unsuccessfully stifling their laughs, are Flora, Fauna and Merryweather.

A sudden realization dawned on him. If **they** were here, and giggling…

Dreading his next move, he looked down-

"**EH?**" He exclaimed, finding himself wearing a PUFFY_ pink_ dress, with puffy sleeves, white long gloves, and, when he felt around his head, a small crown! **(PRINCESS PEACH'S OUTFIT! XP)**

Why the _hell _did they put him in a **dress**? Not cool!

Seeing his reaction, and not containing it anymore, the three of them laughed at the flustered young man. Terra gave the three of them a death glare, gritting his teeth from snarling. "Not… FUNNY!" He shouted at them with gritted teeth, blushing deeply.

"Forgive us Terra," Flora apologized between giggles. "But we couldn't pass up an opportunity like this."

"Mm-hmm," Fauna nodded, "Since this is the last day you'll be staying here."

Anger forgotten, the young man raised a brow at them, confused. "What do you mean?"

"Sorry, but it's a surprise!" Merryweather exclaimed, the three of them hiding their hands behind their backs.

Giving them a look, he hopped off the bed and grumbled under his breath, searching for spare clothes, even pulling a bit of the dress up to walk better, since the fairies practically changed his pajamas. The three of them watched him as he does so.

Fauna: _***looks at the viewer/reader while shrugging* **_"Some people just can't handle change, I guess."

Everyone in the room gave her a look before looking at what Fauna was looking at with a perplexed look. Slightly unnerved, the brunette teen went back to what he was doing, the other two returning their attention back to him.

The red clothed fairy blinked, as if realizing something. "Oh, that's right, Master Yen Sid said for you to see him as soon as you are dressed, dear."

Looking at them, he faked a grin. "Oh, okay, I'll do that, but first, can I ask you guys something?"

"Of course dear, what is it?"

"Can you **please** get me out of this thing?" The brunette pulled on his dress a little, looking a little peeved.

"Oh, alright then," Flora said, nodding.

**A bit later…**

The four of them walked into Yen Sid's study, the brunette holding onto his armor shoulder piece. As usual, he found the sorcerer hunched over some parchment or another on his desk, mumbling to himself and there were blue swirls of light looping through the air around his hands, which he was waving in some sort of intricate pattern before him. Although he didn't want to admit it, but Terra found himself interested at what the wizard is doing.

"Um…" He let out to get the older man's attention. He didn't reply immediately, merely flicking his eyes at them briefly, then looking at the paper again. He took this as a cue to let him finish.

The blue light-loops shifted to a green color and then, with a strange fizzling noise, seemed to eat away at themselves until they vanished completely. Yen Sid directed his attention to them then, wiping his hands on his robe as if they were dirty.

"Good to see you awake Terra," he nodded. "Now please, place your armor on. We have much to discuss."

The brunette gave him an odd look before doing what he said, bringing the shoulder piece close to his shoulder. It immediately clamped on and, in streams and data cubes of yellow light, his gauntlet and armored boots appeared.

"Alright, you got me up and about," the earth warrior began, "So what's going on?"

The wizard went silent, staring at the brunette with his stern eyes. Behind him, the three fairies looked like they were about to explode from contained excitement.

After a moment, when the Keyblade wielder was starting to get unnerved, the retired Keyblade Master said, "Even if I'm not a Master no more, it doesn't mean that I can perform the exam." At the end of the sentence, he smirked as he let the information sink in Terra's head.

At first, the brunette just stared at him with a brow raised, then did a take as it hit him. "What… did you say?" He asked softly, as if he didn't hear him correctly.

"Terra," the moment the brunette heard that tone in the wizard's voice, he immediately knew it was serious, "it is time you show, if you truly are worthy of having the Mark of Mastery."

The brunette just stared at him, shocked by what he just heard. He knew exactly what the 'Mark of Mastery' – or for others, Masters Qualification Exam – is.

"But… the last time I took it, I failed! What if-"

He was cut off when the sorcerer held up his hand, prompting him to be quiet.

"I have a theory, if you might," he began as he brought his hand down, "The last time you took your exam, Xehanort was there, correct?"

"Um, yeah," the brunette nodded, "On the first part of the exam, the spheres of light were suddenly coated in darkness the moment they appear-" he suddenly cut himself off (the record scratching in his head) when it hit him like a ton of bricks. The things that had happened to him after that day rushed back to him, all the way to the part where he was possessed by-

"…Could you excuse me for a moment?" He said as he walked out of the room.

Yen Sid, as if sensing what he was about to do, waved his hand and a barrier of sorts appeared at the door the warrior went through.

As soon as he did that, throughout many worlds, the inhabitants could've sworn they heard someone shouting out many profanities that shall not be described in the fanfiction for the sake of rating. At the World That Never Was, Roxas and Xion looked shocked by what they heard until Axel put their ears on his body and blocked the other side with his hands. Demyx actually dropped his sitar in shock, but fortunately it didn't break. Xaldin and Luxord, while playing poker, looked outside in shock. Saïx looked like he was trying to ignore it by blocking his ears. Xigbar looked impressed by the sheer power of that person's lungs (Xigbar: Damn, that guy can scream…).

As soon as the huge swearing ended, a random Dusk imitated the dramatic groundhog look while Xemnas gave it a confused look, having just coming out of his daze from a creepy ass nightmare he had.

Back at the Mysterious Tower, when the old sorcerer felt that he's done, waved his hand again and the barrier went down. Right when a content brunette Keyblade wielder walked out.

"Okay, I feel better now." At that moment, he noticed Yen Sid giving him a _look._ "…What?"

The old master sighed, pitching the bridge of his nose. Removing his hand, he said, "Go on outside and wait while I get prepared."

"Uh… okay then," the brunette nodded hesitantly then walked to the door that'll lead outside. The three fairies gave the old master a concerned look before following the brunette out the door.

Once he was alone, the sorcerer sighed and shook his head. "Never in my life, have I heard such language…"

**Later…**

Outside the tower, the soon-to-be Keyblade Master stood straight at the bottom of the stairs, as he and the three fairies waited for the sorcerer to arrive. The fairies chattered to each other excitedly, for no one in the outside world had seen a test required for Keyblade wielders to become masters; Terra, on the other hand, was nervous on the inside. This is his second Mark of Mastery test. While he is excited to finally fulfill his dream, somehow… it doesn't feel right. Yen Side may be a master, but he's not his master… nor are Aqua and Ven here to see this…

But… what if something goes wrong again? What if he fails again? What if-

The large doors creaking open brought him out of his thoughts and resumed position – as the fairies looked toward the doors – just as Yen Sid walked out, the Keyblade Mickey once wielded back then in his right hand. With his large eyes, the sorcerer looked at the four of them before him. Finally, he spoke with a loud and authoritive-like tone, directed at Terra:

"Today you will be examined for the Mark of Mastery."

Terra tried to calm himself by taking deep breathes through his nose as the sorcerer continued, "Before me is the chosen one of the many Keyblades in the Realm of Light, as a candidate… however," the three fairies looked at each other as he said, "it is not a test to show off how well you could wield a Keyblade – not a test of will, but a test of heart."

"You may prevail or not at the end of this test." Here, Terra flinched when he said the sentence, although Yen Sid seemed to neither notice nor care, if he did. "Now, I'm sure our honored guests," he gazed at the fairies when he said 'guests', "did not come to see the young prospect in years fall short of the Mark." The three of them made sheepish looks at each other.

The sorcerer returned his gaze back at the brunette. "Now, I trust that you are ready, Terra."

Taking another deep breath to calm himself, the earth knight replied with such confidence: "Yes."

Nodding, the sorcerer lifted his Keyblade just as light started to swirl to the tip. "Then let the examination begin." The shaft glowed purple, now filled with energy to do the first part of the task. Waving the very blade, five orbs of light appeared behind the brunette, who turned around and got into stance.

The three fairies quickly left to get to Yen Sid's side so they wouldn't get caught in the crossfire, just as the orbs began to move.

Terra immediately got into action, using his might to take down the orbs, using different sorts of attacks, including Strike Raid on farther ones and Sonic Blade on some others as more appeared.

As he does so, he couldn't help but feel nostalgic about taking this part of the test. Back then, the three of them took on the corrupted balls of light. They really gave it their all in destroying them-

Suddenly, Terra felt his eyes widen and moved out of the way in time to dodge one of them.

The brunette couldn't help but stared dumbly at the large orb then shook it off as he got more of them to defeat, getting back into the fray.

Eh, he'll worry about it later.

That WAS his thought, but, later on, he WILL question it. Not now though…

And he wasn't the only one who noticed. Yen Sid raised an eyebrow at the brunette, who still continued to defeat the orbs.

'_Where did that spark of energy came from?'_ The sorcerer asked himself, having sensing the energy.

A minute later, the brunette successfully defeated all of the orbs in the field.

"Very good," the sorcerer nodded, the earth knight standing before him, panting slightly from the workout. "The objective of this part of the test is to prove that the wielder must keep a still heart even in the most trying of circumstances."

Here, the brunette sighed softly, relieved.

"Now, let us move on to the next trial."

The earth warrior blinked in confusion and looked around. "But… Who am I suppose to fight? I mean, I can't fight you guys…"

"Hey, don't worry about it," a new voice cut in, "It's been worked out." Everyone turned to the source of the voice and the earth warrior and fairies were surprised by what they saw. Except for the sorcerer.

Standing before them, with a grin, is a man somewhere in his early twenties. His spiky black hair had a couple of pieces framing his face; his amethyst colored eyes peered at all of them, with some sort of enthusiasm in them. A taupe colored cape-like cloth was over his right arm, though some sort of red and dark red armored gauntlet is on his right wrist, along with a grey fingerless glove while the other hand has a red fingerless glove that reaches all the way to just beneath his armpit, with a pair of dark red bands on his wrist and at the part under his armpit. Under the cape is a yellow shirt in a mixture of a Chinese outfit and a swallow-tail suit, a pair of white pants with gray draw-strings, and a pair of purple boots with red designs on them.

The brunette doesn't know why, but there's something… funny about this man.

"Name's Emil," the man introduced himself, "so, nice to meet you all!" He grinned at them all.

Terra couldn't help but give Emil a funny look. This dude looked a bit… too happy with all of this.

"Um… very well, Emil, but, how did you-"

"I'm an old friend of Yen Sid," Emil answered Flora's unfinished question. "The two of us go WAY back," he looked at the said sorcerer with a grin, "right?"

The sorcerer himself made a wistful smirk. "You haven't changed at all I see."

"Not planning _to_!" Emil said, the last word in a sing song-like tone. Terra couldn't help but make a gagging motion at that. "But enough of that," the black haired man waved it off, "we've got ourselves a trial to do, right?"

"Oh! That's right!" They nearly forgot about it when Emil appeared.

After a moment of everyone getting their act together, the two warriors stood at opposite ends of the field, facing each other. "Now, in the next part of the trial, you will be facing your opponent in combat Terra," Yen Sid stated to everyone.

"Right, but unlike the first time you took it," Emil took over, "All you have to do is defeat me in this duel. If you do, while not going crazy on me while doing do, you'll win."

Again, Terra made a face.

Is this guy serious? Although… he couldn't help but feel that something isn't… right with this guy.

Putting it at the back of his mind for a bit, he summoned his Keyblade, Gaia Bane, just as Emil summoned his sword **(for visual aid, his stance resembles the Lingering Sentiment's from Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix.)**

"Begin!"

At the sorcerer's declaration, Emil's expression suddenly turned serious and rushed at the earth warrior. Terra barely had time to block before the raven haired man is upon him and their weapons clashed. The two went into a power struggle – Emil trying to overpower the earth knight, the latter trying to get the former off of him. With effort, Terra managed to force Emil off of him and took a swing at him; however, the other male flipped out of the way from the attack and landed a couple of feet away from the brunette.

The man once again charged at the brunette, who also charged at him and clashed their weapons again. Suddenly, Emil drew back, and threw a couple of slashes at the earth warrior, the said wielder having a hard time dodging and blocking the onslaught. Terra managed to back up just in time to avoid an upward vertical slash from Emil, also nearly getting his nose scratched. He did a backward handspring to get away from the black haired warrior and threw his Keyblade at the man. Unfortunately, Emil dodged the weapon and a sphere of azure blue energy formed in his free hand. Tossing his sword up, Emil _actually_ caught Terra's Keyblade as it was flying back at him like a boomerang and fired the sphere at the now defenseless brunette.

Doing a take, the young warrior instinctively held up his arms in a pathetic attempt to shield himself from the blast, bracing himself for the world of hurt-

Yet it didn't came.

Confused, he slowly opened his eyes… and did a take in shock. Who wouldn't when a barrier of light appeared around them; yet disappeared when noticed? Even everyone else are just as shocked as the brunette, while the sorcerer just held on a stoic look. With the brown haired warrior, a part of him wanted to know what the hell just happened, while the other part of him just wanted to get this over with.

Remembering that he still got an exam to complete, he outstretched his hand and called his Keyblade back to him. That got everyone else's mind out of the gutter and the battle resumed.

Yen Sid only strokes his beard as he watches, his stern eyes never leaving their gaze on Terra.

**Later…**

The young man stood before the old sorcerer, some sweat plastered on his face as he panted a little. Emil stood to the side, looking tired as well, but not really complaining.

"I have the results," Yen Sid announced to all, but mostly to the young man. Everyone immediately turned their attention at the sorcerer. He looked at them all once again. Then smiled. "It is my pleasure to announce that Keyblade Wielder Terra has passed the exam."

The earth warrior felt as if a random goat at rammed him in the gut as his breath was caught in his throat. He could hardly believe it.

He passed the Mark of Mastery exam!

At first, he wasn't sure how to express his delight. However, a grin started to form on his lips. Suddenly, he jumped into the air and pumped his fist. "YEAH!"

The brunette jumped for joy at his success, the three fairies cheered for him. Emil smiled and crossed his arms. Yen Sid made a small smile at that, but then became serious.

"Terra," the old dude (Yen Sid gave a stern look at no one in particular) er… sorcerer (he nodded once before looking back at the others, as if the event hadn't happened) called out to the brunette. Everyone gave their attention to the sorcerer as he crossed his arms, the brunette stopped celebrating to listen. "Now that you have become master, it is time for you to choose."

He blinked. "Choose?"

"Yes," the sorcerer nodded. "Whenever a Keyblade Apprentice becomes a Keyblade Master, they are given a choice of what they shall do for the rest of their life. You can either go and create your own world and start taking apprentices, much like myself and Eraqus; or you can venture out to other worlds and explore some of the new worlds yet to discover, much like Xehanort chose to do."

After hearing it, the brunette crossed his arms, humming thoughtfully. Well, that IS true…

He did remember planning that, once he became a master, he'd go around and explore the universe. But that was back then. Now…

"Well, I know what I wanted to do." Everyone looked at the earth knight as he spoke. "A day after I came back, I made a promise that I'd do everything I can to help stop Organization XIII. I know what they're after, but I needed to find a way to get to their world and stop them. Along with finding both Aqua **and** Ven."

The sorcerer nodded once at his response and made a small smile. "I had a feeling you might say that," he said. After a moment of silence, he told him, "Very well, go on and pack up what you think you might need for your journey."

"Yes sir!" The brunette nodded and made his way up the stairs, the blue clad man moving aside to let him pass. The three fairies looked at each other and nodded, disappearing in bursts of light in their respective colors.

Once the two were alone, Yen Sid sighed through his nose, hung his head and closed his eyes.

**-Aqua's Theme-**

"Somehow, I have a feeling something terrible will happen," he said to the black haired man.

The man looked at him in confusion. "Hm? What makes you say that?"

The sorcerer didn't reply immediately but after a minute, he did, "During the time Terra has been here, the young man was not able to use his other abilities. The abilities that made him into what Xehanort wanted." The black haired man listened silently as he went on, "The young man only wanted power, so he can protect the ones he loves; yet how he does it isn't the right way…"

Emil hummed thoughtfully and held his hands behind his head. "Well… that's one of the faults all humans have since they were made. Although, me and the others used to be human as well until we became guardians."

"Yes," the retired Keyblade Master nodded. "However, ever since he has come back, all I sensed from his heart is what remains of his light, which steadily grows stronger and stronger with his newfound resolve; I am not sure what happened to the darkness that was within his heart once." He looked at the raven haired as he asked, "Do you know what has happened to it?"

The man made an uneasy look at that. "Well… I can tell you one thing: I just hope the both of them aren't equal if they meet up. If they aren't, everything will be alright with the universe."

"Equal?" The sorcerer repeated, this time confused. What does he mean-

Suddenly it hit him. And he frowned then looked up at the sky. "I certainly hope so too. I certainly hope so…"

**-End song-**

**With Terra…**

"Okay… I have some food that might last me a week or so if I can conserve them; a flask filled with water; a bar of soap in case I go to a world that doesn't have any of those; toothbrush and toothpaste; a towel, just in case…" Terra listed off as he checked over the supplies in his magical backpack that the fairies had kindly puffed up for him.

Although they do nice things for him, he felt… a little edgy around them. They did say they were once Princess Aurora's caretakers, right? What if they were secretly angry with him; since he had a feeling they know about his part of stealing the princess's heart. And them doing pranks on him is their way of getting revenge. But… he felt that he deserved this punishment for what he did.

Behind him, the three fairies watched him as he packed. While it is true that they knew about what happened back then, when they went with Ventus to get Aurora's heart back, they never really held anything against him. Although, they did do pranks on the poor lad, it's only just for fun.

Giving each other a glance, they nodded and approached the brunette. "Terra?" Flora called out.

Terra was just stuffing his pajamas into the bag when he heard Flora calling his name. "Hm?" He let out as he looked at them. "What's up?"

"Well… we know about what happened back then and-"

"I know," the brunette softly cut off the blue clad fairy, "And… I think I'd be angry at myself for what I've did-"

"Oh, no deary, that's not it at all," Fauna calmly interrupted the Keyblade Master.

"Huh?" The brunette let out in surprise, along with a surprised look on his face.

**-Ventus's Theme-**

"Don't worry, we all know it wasn't your fault," she continued, smiling at the young man kindly.

"We know that it was Maleficent's doing ever since she had her heart," Merryweather added, with the same smile as the green clad fairy.

Terra couldn't help but stare at them. They… They forgave him? But…

"But what if Aurora doesn't forgive me for that? How can you be so sure that-"

"We all forgave you for that Terra," Flora assured him, then grinned. "And I'm sure Aurora will forgive you, too."

Terra stared at the three of them, looking at their smiling faces. They all looked so sincere… trusting. He couldn't help but to smile at them as well. "Okay, I guess I'll take your word for it…" He scratched the back of his head.

For what felt like the first time, the four of them shared a grin with each other.

**-Song fades out-**

**Later…**

"Thanks for letting me stick around for a while Mas- err… should I still call you 'Master Yen Sid'?"

"It doesn't really matter Terra," Yen Sid said to the brunette. The five of them are outside of the tower after the new Keyblade Master had finished packing.

Noticing that someone is missing, he looked around. "Hey, where's-"

"He left," Yen Sid answered his unfinished question. "He told me that he has more important things to do. And he asked me to tell you 'good luck'."

"Oh…" A sweat-drop formed at the back of his head. "Uh… I'll tell him 'thanks' if I ever see him."

"Very well," the wizard nodded. That's when Flora blinked, remembering something.

"Oh, yes! I almost forgot!"

"What?" Terra asked.

"Girls?" Flora asked the green and blue clad fairies.

"Right," the two nodded. In unison, the three twirled their wands and the brunette's clothes glowed a bit before returning to normal.

"There, we made your clothes magical so when you enter a world that requires you to change your appearance, your clothes will do just that," the red clad fairy explained.

"Oh, thank you," he said gratefully. On the inside, he was thankful that they didn't put him in a dress again.

Yen Sid suddenly went serious. "Remember, the Organization are stronger than they look. You must _never_ underestimate them!"

"Right," Terra nodded. His thoughts went back to Xion. _'But… what about Xion? She doesn't seem so bad…'_

"Please be careful dear," Fauna looked concerned as she said it, which got Terra out of his thoughts.

**-Terra's theme-**

He nodded once again. "I will," he assured her. He steps back a bit to gain some room. Once he's far enough, he pounded the black disk on his left shoulder guard and the young man was consumed in an oval of yellow light. When it ended, the brunette is covered head to toe in his armor, a bit of lightning coursed over his being before completely fading out. His Keyblade appeared in his hand and he threw it into the air. Instead of automatically coming back to him like a boomerang, it flashed red before coming back to him as his jet ski-like vehicle.

The three fairies could help but let out cries of awe at the sight. They never knew Keyblades could do that!

With great strength in his legs, he jumped into the air and landed perfectly onto his Keyblade Glider. "See you guys later!" He shouted at them, waving goodbye one more time. After that, he shoots off into the sky, leaving behind a streak of red, the four waving back at him.

**-Song fades out-**

Unknown to them, hiding from sight, a certain someone had witnessed the departure of his other half.

"…" He disappeared in a portal, before anyone could notice that he's here…

* * *

…**Dude, this chapter is a lot harder to work on… *scratches behind the head* But… I suppose that no excuse for my lateness… *sighs***

**What? I had to poke fun at him again! X3 Also… for those who don't know, I sorta got the ending of Terra's dream from Dragonball Z Abridged: the Bardock special actually. ^w^**

**Uh… in the next chapter, I probably won't like what I'm going to do since a certain someone is gonna…**

**Please review!**

_Omake_

A white circle appeared on top of the black background, showing Xemnas walking with Xigbar. "So, did you have any interesting dream?" The eye-patched Nobody asked.

This caused Xemnas to freeze, remembering the creepy ass face saying "Hi" to him. Very creepy like…

The Freeshooter blinked. "Hey. Mr. Boss dude? Anyone home?" Xigbar asked as he knocked on the Superior's head a bit.

"It's nothing," he insisted before walking away from him.

The Nobody just blinked once he's alone. "I wonder what's so bad about it…" He scratched his head before the circle closed.


	10. Death

_Oh my goodness, this chapter will be a bit… dramatic._

_**Disclaimer: I disown Kingdom Hearts... What, did you seriously think I own this? I wish though… But I do own my OCs and the plot somewhat.**_

_**WARNING! THERE WILL BE SPOILERS ALERT FROM 358/2 DAYS IF YOU HADN'T PLAYED IT TOWARDS THE END!**_

* * *

**Death**

Many stars flew by him as he rode on in the Lanes Between. It had been six days since he had become a Master and during those days he went to a couple of worlds, even going to the three worlds he once visited.

**(For those of you who are expecting what Terra did when he was out and about, well… use your imagination please. A lot of things can happen when you visit those worlds.) **

Now riding through the Lanes Between again, he looked around for another world to check out. "Hm…" He hummed to himself as he glanced around. He figured that he'll get a good look at his surroundings if he stopped for a moment; and so he did.

"Now let's see…" He gazed around the area for a while. There are still a couple of worlds he hadn't gone to yet, and some of the worlds he had never been to before. Though, the problem is, there's just too fucking much of them!

A sweat-drop formed at the back of his head. _'Where in the hell I could go to?'_ He asked himself. He randomly thought about some universal map that could possibly exist somewhere. At least that would've been easier…

As he was about to divulge more into it, he suddenly looked up and spotted a world up ahead. This particular world had a twilit sky, a train, and a large clock to-

And then something clicked in his brain.

'_OH SHIT!'_ He exclaimed in his head as he suddenly remembered his promise to Hayner, Pence and Olette. The large clock tower MUST mean the world is Twilight Town! He remembered seeing it on the day he first met the kids. Kicking on the accelerator, he sped off to Twilight Town as fast as he could.

**Meanwhile, in the town…**

At the town's sandlot, a lone boy sat at the corner, hugging his knees to his chest, as he felt something he had never felt before. He wasn't sure what it is, but… perhaps it had something to do with what happened a few days prior to today.

Why… Why did Axel kept these secrets from him? All this time, he knew what Xion is; and he didn't even tell him! Friends weren't supposed to keep secrets from their own friends, so why…?

Now he understood why Saïx kept calling Xion a 'puppet'. But Xion is **not** a puppet! She's like the rest of them-

No, not really a Nobody…

Ugh, thinking about these things made his head hurt!

As he held his head, he thought about the many secrets the Organization had kept from him. Who **is** Sora? The Su- no, Xemnas said that he's a 'key' that connects both him and Xion… What does _that_ mean? Though now that he thought about it, ever since that strange person appeared at the castle, Xemnas had been acting strange, and he disappears more often than usual…

Though, back then, no one dared to question him about that; he's the superior after all. He can outright kick your ass if he wanted to…

Stretching out his legs, he dug into his pocket and pulled something out. He gazed sadly at the blue and yellow star-shaped seashell charm with their symbol at the center, a string attached to the top of the charm to make it look like a necklace of sort.

"Xion…" He mumbled softly, yet sadly, recalling the time she gave it to him…

_-Flashback!-_

_**-Ventus's Theme-**_

_Day 351_

_After their mission in Twilight Town, the two of them were walking to the sandlot to where they entered the world._

"_Another day, another heart, wouldn't you say?" He sighed to his friend as they entered the area._

"_Yup," Xion nodded. "But, what can we do? We're the only ones who can gather hearts."_

"_Yeah… I guess you're right." He kept on walking to where the portal is, to report their success; though he didn't notice Xion had stopped following him._

"_Roxas," he heard her calling out to him, making him stop._

"_Hm?" He turned to her, confused, "What is it?"_

_She merely walked up to him and stopped when she got close. "I recently finished making it," she started as she dug into her pocket, "It's not much, but… I think it's good."_

_The blonde just looked at her in confusion, brow raised and all. But he did looked surprised when she pulled out a star-shaped charm made out of five blue and yellow seashells she liked to collect, with the Organization's symbol at the middle. For some reason, the charm looked oddly… familiar._

"_What is it?" He asked in curiosity._

"_It's a good luck charm silly," the raven haired girl giggled. "See, somewhere out there, there's this tree with star-shaped fruit. And this fruit represents an unbreakable connection._ _So as long as you and your friends carry good luck charms shaped it, nothing can ever drive you apart. You'll always find a way to get back to each other." Then she looked sheepish. "I could only find enough to make just one, and it took me a while to sew this together and make that charm in the middle."_

"_Wow…" He said in awe. There's a fruit that could do that? Amazing... "Where did you learn about this?"_

"_I… met someone who has something similar to this," she explained, "A friend of his made three of them for him, and his two friends, so they could stay together, even when they're apart." _

"_Wow…" He once again said, "That actually sounded nice."_

_He didn't notice the female looking sadly at the charm. But he did perk up when she said:_

"_Roxas."_

"_What?" He asked as he looked at her. Xion said nothing but he made a surprised look as she took his right hand and placed the charm into it. "Xion, why are you giving me your charm?"_

"_It's so that, even if we are apart, you'll always have a piece of me with you," she explained. She pushed his fingers onto the charm as she continued, "The person who told me about these charms also say that these charms have a unique power."_

"_Really? What's that?" He tilted his head curiously._

_Xion merely closed her eyes and grinned. "An unbreakable connection," was her answer…_

_-End flashback!-_

A couple of days after that, she left again, a day after the Organization set the two of them up to take out each other; if-if it hadn't been for Axel stopping them, one of them wouldn't be here…

Well… at least he cared…

Sighing through his nose, he stuffed the charm into his pocket and sat in the same position he was in earlier.

**-Song fades out…-**

**Bit earlier(ish)...**

At a deserted spot between two buildings, all seemed peaceful… until the ground started to shake a bit. At the corner of the spot, a portal made of light, yet shaped a lot like the openings of Corridors of Darkness, formed into existence, the rumbling ceasing. Walking out of it casually is the armored Keyblade Master and the portal disappeared behind him. Walking a few paces forward, the armor flashed again before disappearing into streams of energy into the shoulder armor, the gauntlet and boots flashing a bit; revealing the earth knight in his attire. He walked up the stairs to look over the town. **(It's the area where you play that garbage mini-game in Kingdom Hearts II).**

As he looked around at the oddly vacant town, he couldn't help but feel… unnerved about the ghost town and… something else.

'_What's this unease I'm feeling?' _He asked himself as his eyes looked around cautiously. He slowly walked out of the small space, looking around for any danger that might pop up, and at the closed shutters and gates around the town. The only times he had ever seen the place filled with life was on the two days he had came back; but seeing this place now…

It gave him the spooks.

It's as if… they're afraid of something…

Though, now that he thought about it, on the first day, the picture Pence took of the Organization member (either Xion or 'Roxas') fighting some Emblem Heartless came back to him. Maybe the locals are afraid of the Heartless…?

In the same area as Terra, yet not near enough, three certain teenagers were wondering through to get to the ice cream shop. Although, one was completely nervous about the eerie silence of the town, one felt a bit unnerved by the unusual silence, while the last one tried to not let the silence get to him.

"H-Hayner, you sure it's safe to come out here?" Pence nervously asked the blonde.

"Well, have you seen those strange black creatures appearing?" Hayner asked him while shrugging. "'Cause I don't."

Olette, meanwhile, looked around the place cautiously. "Strange… it's as if something is preventing those creatures to come here…"

The two boys paused to look at their female friend, who also did. "What makes you say that?" The blonde asked her.

"I'm… not sure," she trailed off, her eyes wondering around the place. "It's as if… there's this tension in the air that probably frightens everyone else **and** those monsters…"

The two boys just stared at her, jaws dropping a little. "…Olette, sometimes you can be weird like that…" Hayner remarked, trying so hard to look like he wasn't unnerved by his friend's comment.

"Hey, what's that suppose to mean?" She asked suspiciously; as the two were arguing, Pence looked away with a bored expression, feeling an argument coming on. However, he blinked in surprise when he saw someone else is also out and about. The outfit looked strange, but… that hair style is familiar…

The plump boy squinted his eyes to try to get a closer look at the figure. When the said person turned his head, he managed to see the side of their face, revealing a medium length bang covering his eye-

Wait, is that…?

Finally recognizing who it is, the cubby boy grinned. "Terra!" He exclaimed, waving his hand.

The three, who were busy with their own stuff (Hayner and Olette looked like they were about to have an argument married couples have [Hayner and Olette: NO WE'RE NOT!] with Terra still looking around for anything dangerous) immediately turned to the source and saw each other.

"It is Terra!" Olette exclaimed.

"Hey dude, what's up?" Hayner hollered to the male brunette, waving at him before the three ran up to him.

"Guys?" The Keyblade Master couldn't help but let out in surprise. "What are the three of you doing out here?" He asked them as they got up to him.

"Well, Mr. 'Leader' wanted the three of us to have some ice cream," Olette explained, giving Hayner an evil eye.

"Hey, hey! Don't blame me! Those monsters aren't around here at all!" The blonde defended himself.

"Which is weird if you ask me…" Pence commented.

Terra gave a curious look at him. "Why's that?" He had a feeling, but he wanted to hear what **they** have to say.

"Usually, at this time of day, they often appear to wreak havoc in the town," the black haired boy explained, "Then later, those people in the black coats would come here and take them out. But, for some reason, none of them are around at all!" The last sentence, he and the others looked around the empty town to prove his point.

"Is that so," the male brunette said, glancing at the buildings wearily.

"It's like Olette said," Pence rubbed his chin thoughtfully, "It's as if some tension is in the air, one that makes those creatures fear the place, yet also makes everyone else scared…"

Hayner and Olette gave their friend the most bewildered look they could make, while Terra gave him a surprised look before looking around again. "That… sounds right," the older male muttered. _'Though, Master Yen Sid __did__ say that Nobodies are 'born' here…'_ He reasoned with himself. During his training with the sorcerer, Yen Sid had told him about how Nobodies were formed and where they go when they're 'born'. In other words, Twilight Town is more of a Nobody territory than a Heartless territory…

"Now see, even Terra agrees!" Pence said triumphantly. Hayner gave their plump friend a dark look while Olette rubbed her chin thoughtfully.

"Well… whatever is going on here, I just hope it won't last long." Everyone gave the brunette girl a strange look.

"Why did you say that?" The blonde asked.

"The silence in this town… it somehow brings unease to me…"

The three males gave her a look once again, though for different reasons. "…Olette, sometimes you can also be scary when you say stuff like that…" Hayner looked practically pale at her words.

"Oh Hayner…" The female muttered while Terra and Pence sweat-dropped a bit. The older brunette then looked to the path that leads to the clock tower-

And saw a familiar face wearing a black coat, with his head down sadly, heading slowly towards the path that leads to the clock tower. _'Ven…?'_

He didn't realize that he was staring at the path to the clock tower until:

"Terra?" He blinked when he heard Pence's voice. Looking at the black haired boy, the boy asked, "Are you okay?"

"Uh… Yeah. I just saw someone," the male brunette replied.

"Really? Who?" The blonde asked, just as surprised as his other friends at the mention of someone else out and about like them.

"I'm… not sure really," the older brunette admitted, "But… do me a favor you guys and hide somewhere."

"Why?"

"Because… I have a feeling that something is going to happen. Something big." With that, he took off towards the path that leads to the Clock Tower before any of them could stop him.

The three kids stared at Terra's back as he left. "What do you think is going to happen?" Pence asked them.

Hayner mumbled incoherently as he shrugged his shoulders.

Behind a corner of one of the buildings, a being in a black coat peeked out at them, a hood over their head. They had watched Terra converse with the kids and spotted the sad blonde boy walking to the path that leads higher up.

In the very small amount of light that managed to pierce the blackness of the hood, a frown is upon it.

But not one of frustration or bitterness.

It's one with sadness…

**Later…**

On the trek to the Clock Tower, the male Keyblade Master managed to keep himself hidden from the Ven look-alike while following him; although, it seemed that the young blonde hadn't notice him yet. Regardless, the brunette continued to follow him, to find out what he's doing here, where there's no Heartless.

And… why does he look so sad?

It wasn't long until he found himself at the Station Plaza, seeing the boy heading towards the doors that go into the station itself. The brunette took a moment to glance around the place in confusion. "Why would he come here?" He wondered to himself.

He decided to shove it to the back of his mind and continued to follow the boy inside the station. After a few minutes of going down a hall, and climbing up a long staircase upwards, before he found a door at the end of another hallway; he opened it… and found himself looking at the vast expanse of the rest of the sleepy town. "Woah…" He marveled, using his hand as a visor to look at everything more carefully.

Man, what a view this is! That look-alike sure know how to find a good-

Oh right, that boy.

He slowly (yet also regretfully) turned away from this view to look around for the Ven look-alike. Not able to find him where he's at, he slowly walked along the path that goes around the top of the clock tower. He couldn't help but look at the large bell that branches off from the tower, hanging from the part that connected itself to the tower, giving it some sort of an… ethereal-like appearance. Looking a little bit like wings actually-

"Woah!" He cried out when his foot accidentally slipped a little off the edge of the piece he was walking on, but he caught himself in time.

And had an unfortunate look at the ground far below him. The brunette gulped a little at that. Okay, besides the incredible view, you'd have to be nuts to get a view from a clock tower that's like 30-50 feet off the ground! Even if you're physically fit (or in his case, a Keyblade Master), you'll be lucky to have some broken bones or something!

As slowly as he could, he pushed himself from the edge until his back is against the wall. From there, he sidled his way to the other edge that should be the front of the tower itself. When he got near the corner, he paused for a moment before he took a cautious look behind the said corner-

He took in a breath as he hid behind the corner again. This time, he decided to move his head a smidge around the corner, seeing the blonde boy just… staring out into space, hugging his knees to his chest…

The boy chuckled to himself. But it was not filled with mirth.

"Where would I think I could go?" He – shockingly sounding _just _like Ven – asked, mostly to himself, his voice cracking a bit. He buried his face in his arms, muttering, "What a joke…"

'Go?' Go where? Now he really wanted to ask. But…

How can he approach this?

Slowly, he moved away from his spot and carefully walked up to him, to not startle the boy. Once he was near, he bent his back a little and placed his palms onto his knees. "Are you okay?" He asked him, a gentle tone in his voice.

The young blonde jumped at the voice and turned to the source, seeing a brunette male he had never seen before. "Who're you?" The blonde was quick to ask.

The older male put his hand onto his chest. "My name is Terra," he introduced himself. "What are you doing, sitting up here all alone?" He tilted his head curiously at him.

At the question – innocent or otherwise – the boy sighed, returning his gaze to the sunset. "Why would you care?" Was his blunt answer; the bluntness somewhat startled the male, his tone almost similar on the day Ven asked him and Aqua to-

He shook his head. "Is it wrong of me to be concerned about you?" He slowly sat down next to the blonde, letting his left leg dangle while he kept his right knee up to his chest, like he would usually do when he and his friends would look up at the sky after training.

At the corner of the blonde's eyes, he saw the young man sitting next to him, in a position very similar to how Axel sits after completing their missions sometimes. And he doesn't get why someone like this guy would be concerned for him…

Yet, something at the back of his mind was nagging at him. He wasn't sure why but…

There's something familiar about him. He wasn't exactly sure how though…

After a moment of silence, Terra began, slowly, "Can you tell me your name?"

At first, the boy didn't respond. The brunette sighed a little and turned to look at the sunset-

_**-Roxas's Theme-**_

"Roxas."

And blinked at the voice, turning his head to look at him. "What?"

The boy hesitated before repeating: "Roxas. That's my name…"

"Roxas…" The Keyblade wielder parroted to himself silently. The name sounded familiar. He decided to make some more idle chat. "So Roxas, any particular reason why you were sitting here alone?"

The boy didn't say anything for a while. Then:

"Some things have happened," he began, "My friend kept so many secrets from me. Like… what my other friend really is. In fact, there are a lot of people who kept a lot of secrets from me. I was sick and tired of it all. So I left; to find out who I am, what my purpose is and…" He lifted his head a little bit to look at the forever setting sun. "Find out who 'Sora' is…"

The young man couldn't help but feel sorry for this boy – Nobody or not, this boy seemed to express emotions not like the other Nobodies, who were suppose to be 'emotionless' as people say they are…

And once again, someone else had mentioned 'Sora'. Just who is Sora? What sort of connections does he have with Roxas, Xion and his successor?

_**-Song fades out…-**_

At that moment, he heard soft clicks of a pair of high heeled boots against the stone. He made himself look nonchalant to avoid suspicion as he heard the person coming closer. Finally, he heard the person finally next to them-

And heard soft fluttering of the person's clothes as they sat down next to them. The two of them looked over to who had sat down-

"Xion!" Roxas exclaimed in surprise, letting his feet dangle over the edge once more. Indeed, it is the female Nobody/Puppet, yet… why does she have a hood over her head?

Xion didn't say anything as she silently reached next to her, the blonde boy trying to find the words of how to talk to her while Terra just silently watched. _'What is she doing here?' _The brunette wondered to himself. For some reason, he felt a little red flag going up; the longer she's there with them.

Finally, she pulled out two Sea-Salt Ice Cream bars and handed them to the two. Roxas and Terra only blinked but they silently took the bars from her. "Thank you…" Roxas finally managed to say, his tone sounding like he was grateful for the treat; as Terra muttered a 'Thanks'. The blonde bit into the cold treat, the brunette doing the same as Xion pulled out her own.

For a while, none of them didn't say anything, just silently eating the ice creams as they watched the sun set (err… Or rather the forever sun set I mean). Terra, however, couldn't help but feel unease about the whole thing; his eyes occasionally shifting to look at the hooded girl every so often before looking back at the star.

Finally, Xion, who had not touched her treat, spoke. "Roxas… Terra… I'm out of time." She let the treat fall from her hand, all the way to the stone ground.

"Huh?" They both let out, both of their treats at their last leg. She didn't say anything else, as she slowly stood up from her seat.

The two watched in confusion as she reached for her hood-

And did a take as she pulled it back, seeing a face that… isn't her's, yet it's also her too; their ice creams slipping from their grasp, falling to the ground like Xion's. As she lowered her arms, her body structure changed. _'Okay, that's just creepy…' _Terra shuddered. Mentally.

"Even if I'm not ready…" She began. "I have to make this choice." She started to raise her arms once more, as she continued, "You have poured so many memories into me Roxas…" Her hands reached for her chest, "given me so much…" she held her hands, as if her chest is hurting, "that I feel like I'm about to overflow."

"Look at me, you two," she addressed the two males, the brunette slowly getting up from his seat as the blonde looked at his friend, completely confused – and yet shocked – by what he was hearing and seeing. "Who do you see? If you see somebody else's face… a boy's face… then… that means I'm almost ready."

She finally lowered her arms once more as she stated, "This puppet will have to play her part."

"Roxas… Terra… you wanted to know… And now you see." She looked at them with sapphire blue eyes, like Roxas's, the spiky brunette hair flowing in the wind that blew just now; smiling sadly. "This face belongs to him… This is Sora."

'_Sora?' _Terra exclaimed in his mind, doing a take. No wonder it looked so familiar! That face…

That little brunette boy at the islands back then…

What in the world happened that allowed him to be able to weild the Keyblade?

In his stupor, he didn't even notice that Roxas gasped a little at the revelation. So this is Sora? Then… why does he look familiar-

"Uh- wait!" Roxas cried out, (getting Terra out of his thoughts) as he tried to stop his friend as she stepped off of the building-

And onto the air, her coat swishing a little with her movement. As Roxas tried to get up from his seat, Terra's mouth was wide open at what he was seeing. Once Roxas finally got up, Xion stopped a couple of feet away from them and covered her head again before turning to the two. She hung her head, not looking at them for a moment before she raised it.

"You're next, Roxas," she said, shockingly emotionless; and menacingly to boot. "I have to make you a part of me, too." As she said that, she reached out her hand at him. "Don't you see?"She clenched her hand, just as tendrils of darkness appeared around her. "This is why I was created. And once I merged with you Roxas…" Darkness began to surround her some more. "I'm taking you in Terra. It's my order after all."

"What…" Terra could only manage as she was covered in an oval of darkness.

"Xion!" Roxas exclaimed, kicking off of the building and actually ran toward her.

"Wait! Roxas!" Terra shouted, throwing reason out of the window to go after him.

Roxas managed to reach her, and yet the oval disappeared, taking her with it. "Xion? _Xion!_" The blonde called out, looking around for his friend.

When the brunette male caught up to him, he shifted his eyes around, his senses kicking in. And yet, many thoughts went off in his head.

What's wrong with Xion? It… doesn't seem like her to say such things. And… he didn't know if he could-

"WOAH!" The two of them screamed as some sort of… force, blasted their backs, sending them flying a few feet away. Terra straightened himself and landed on the ground, skidding a bit; Roxas, though, landed in a heap on his left. The two of them groaned in pain, the older brunette pushed himself from the ground and shook his head. He looked at the source at the same time as Roxas-

And the two gasped in shock/horror.

**(Epic battle music time! –Vector to the Heavens plays-)**

Towering before them is Xion herself… although she is now decked out in armor, colored in shades of pink, grey, yellow, silver, black, with some dull red near her waist, and (although they couldn't see it) golden boots. Her armor also has numerous spikes and ribbons. In her hands are a pair of Keyblade-like, pink and silver weapons with the teeth in the shape of those Nobody symbols.

"Xion…?" Roxas let out, his eyes widened in horror; kneeing on the ground as Terra slowly stood up.

Just after he said that, Xion made an unexpected slash at the two. Terra reacted quickly, instinctively grabbing Roxas with the same arm he used to grab Ven a long time ago, and jumped out of her reach. He didn't count on the female making continuous slashes at the two. He did his best to dodge them, but he did get a few cuts to his arms.

Once she stopped her assault, Terra called out to her. "Xion, please! We don't have to do this!"

"_**I must! It's what I was programmed to do!" **_Her voice eerily echoed in their minds, swinging her sword in an arc, sending a wave of energy at them.

The elder boy's eyes widened, instinctively summoned his Keyblade and held it up to block the attack-

And skidded back a couple of feet from the blow of the attack, his weapon still held up. Thankfully, a green barrier of sorts covered the two of them, the blow from Xion's attack being turned into healing energy to heal his wounds.

The brunette gritted his teeth, squinting his eyes shut as his knuckles, the one gripping his Keyblade, turned white. He lowered his arm and sighed. "Alright Xion… I guess I have no choice…" He dropped Roxas unceremoniously onto the ground, and got into stance. "I hope you're prepared Xion, because I won't hold back!"

"What?" Roxas let out, his mind hazy from what just happened. He then watched as the brunette charged at his armored friend-

And spotted his Keyblade. _'A Keyblade?'_ The boy exclaimed in his mind, shocked beyond words. Who is this guy? And… how does he know Xion?

As the boy watched on shock, the brunette began his barrage on the transformed Keyblade Wielder, using Quick Blitz first, followed by Blitz, before he decided to attack regularly. He felt power growing inside of his heart as he does so, until it nearly overwhelmed him. He channeled the power into his Keyblade, going into one of his personal Command Styles, _Critical Impact_. His upper body glowed in a mixture of red and white, sort of resembling the colors of muscles, as he used heavy, hard strikes onto Xion, dealing damage onto her as he does so. And yet… he noticed that Xion wasn't even attacking…

'_Does she __want__ us to end her?' _He asked himself in his head, feeling the power in his heart about to reach its peak.

Suddenly, Xion, with light power in her blades, knocked him back a couple of feet. A whitish-blue aura coated her blades, glowing brighter as they were filled with energy.

"_**DON'T HOLD BACK!"**_ She screamed at them, holding her swords up into the air, firing a beam of light into the air.

And something told him that he has to dodge. FAST.

Until he remembered Roxas. He looked back at the boy, who was still on his knees, watching in the borderline of shock and horror at what was before him. And for an instant, he saw Ventus in his place, watching helplessly as he defended him from Master Eraqus. "Ven!" He screamed out, running towards the boy-

Just as pillars of light fell from the sky, most of them nearly hitting the older male as he rushed for the blonde.

Said blonde seemed to have snapped out of his daze once more when he heard Terra screaming out 'Ven'. _'Wait, 'Ven'?' _The boy asked himself. _'Isn't… Isn't that what that guy back then mumbled?'_ Yes… he did hear him mumble the name-

And finally realized who Terra is; and why Xion said that she 'has to take him in'!

The brunette male saw a pillar of light over Roxas, who didn't seem to notice at all. Gathering his willpower, he used his Slide and Sonic Impact combo to reach him faster-

And pushed him away from the attack, taking the full force of the pillar of light. "AUGH!" He screamed out in pain.

"Terra!" The blonde Nobody screamed out, seemingly to snap out of it, watching in horror as it happened to the older brunette.

The power… the power from Xion's attack… it was too much! He has to be strong… he can't die here…!

Not now, not today!

Suddenly, he felt some strange… power, welling up inside his heart. And… for some odd reason the pillar of light doesn't seem to hurt anymore. In fact, it's as if his body seemed to be absorbing the attack.

And this power…

He _has_ to release it!

As soon as the attack ended, the brunette Keyblade Master got into the same stance he always used when focusing a specific power from his heart, all the way to the Keyblade; most of the time, he'd feel a hidden power coursing through his body, other times, he'd feel an icy sensation, then fire, then lightning, then an earthly sensation, a sensation that was like a connection to Aqua, and finally, a dark, colder than ice sensation. But now…

This sensation feels… warmer. Comforting even. _'Is… is this what light truly feels like?' _He asked himself.

Finally, he managed to work the power into the Keyblade-

And he felt lighter than before.

An energy of pure white – yet not the harsh brightness one would see if they closed their eyes during a thunderstorm, rather, it's a soft kind of white, like the ones you usually see on cotton – coursed throughout his body, evident of the white/pale yellow colored energy coursed around him. As he looked at himself in awe, he nearly forgotten about the battle he was in. _Nearly_ being the keyword there.

The male quickly did a backward handspring to dodge an arc of energy fired at him by Xion. He gazed at himself once more and nodded. Once more getting into stance, he charged, this time holding the Keyblade with both of his hands and did a somersault-slash attack.

Just as he did, Xion swung her Keyblades at a slow rate, yet her swings created shockwaves as she does so; the male did a take as saw the attack, and got ready to Slide out of there-

And found himself feeling like he was breaking up in particles and just as suddenly, reformed some distance away. _'What the-'_ He looked over himself in shock, taken completely by surprise. What- What just happened?

Wait. Both Aqua and master told him about this, about 'teleportation' or something similar to that; but the feeling of being broken down into particles and then reforming somewhere else…

Maybe this is what this new Command Style is able to do.

With this new thought in mind, he resumed his attack onto the transformed female, using quick and heavy strikes before teleporting somewhere else to repeat the process a couple more times before he felt a sudden surge forming within him. Letting it take over, his body drew his legs to his chest (he's even floating in mid-air a bit) as he also brought his arms back, a sphere of white/pale yellow light forming around him; his limbs then jerked back, the sphere bursting into fragments, some of which hitting Xion as it does so.

But before he could continue the assault, Xion had done… something.

One moment, he was about to continue the attack on her and the next… he felt intense pain, was sent flying in the sky… and then falling. The next thing he knew, he was on the ground, every part of his body screaming in pain. One little twitch brought an agonizing pain… yet his voice wouldn't work. He knew he should be screaming, or at least groan hoarsely, in pain, but… it's as if whatever Xion did made him silent. And due to the pain he was in, he wasn't able to move any of his limbs. So it left him unable to move out of the way when Xion raised one of her blades at the young man.

Roxas, seeing how helpless Terra is and seeing Xion about to make the final strike at him…

Something snapped within him.

"**NO~O!**" He summoned his Kingdom Key Keyblade and _leaped_ from the ground, and landed a blow to Xion, stunning her. He landed back on the 'ground', next to Terra. After giving the elder brunette a look over, he quickly dug into his pocket and pulled out a small bottle with red wings on it, along with an Elixir. "Here," he tossed the bottle with red wings, after shaking it, up, where it broke in the air. An aura of sorts drifted down onto Terra, going into his body. The next thing the brunette knew, he could actually hear himself groan in pain.

Roxas quickly threw the Elixir into the air next, where it did the same thing as the other bottle did. Once the aura went into Terra's body, he could fell his toes and fingers again. Terra hacked and coughed before he slowly pushed himself up from the 'ground'.

Just in time too, because an arc of energy shot out at them. The two were forced to dodge with their signature ability (Slide for Terra, and Dodge Roll for Roxas). The two Keyblade wielders gave each other a glance – Terra anxious, while Roxas looked reluctant. But they both knew what had to be done.

Gripping their Keyblades, the two charged at the transformed girl. The two of them hack and slashed at her, even dodging her attacks sometimes. It wasn't long until they struck the final blow to her (Just as the battle music in the background ended.).

The transformed girl made an unearthly scream, holding her head and writhing about in pain-

Until she just… stopped. She fell to her knees, tendrils of darkness surrounding her as she looked up at the sky blankly. The two males lowered their weapons as they stared at Xion, shocked and horrified by what's happening to her. Roxas took a step forward, his hand out to reach for her-

When he held his head, screaming in pain. "Roxas-" The older male started, reaching for the boy-

A large cracking sound was heard around them. Terra looked around in shock, trying to find the source, then looked down at his feet. His eyes went wide in shock as the 'ground'… started to crack, and shatter under them. The brunette quickly the blonde and held out his Keyblade above-

-just as the 'ground' shattered to pieces. Gaïa Bane changed into his signature Keybike and the two of them slowly hovered to the ground. Terra kept his eyes on the plume of darkness that covered Xion, as it got smaller… smaller… and smaller as they lowered to the ground.

As Terra landed on the ground and released the boy (dismissing his Keyblade afterward), weakly walking out of the darkness, was Xion, back to her original form. She took a few steps out of it before she fell to her knees heavily, panting just as heavy. The Keyblade Master winced at the many wounds that were inflicted on her during the battle. He took a step forward, reaching out and opening his mouth to speak.

But Roxas beat him, by asking, "Who are you… again?" Terra flinched, and stared at the boy, who is holding his head, as if he had grown a second head. "It's… so weird… I felt like I've forgotten something very… important…"

Terra looked back at the girl, half expecting the girl to look hurt by what Roxas said. However, his eyes widen in shock when he saw her… smiling softly. (As **–Musique pour la tristesse de Xion- **plays) "You'll be… better off now… Roxas…"

She fell over to her side. Startled, Roxas dropped to his knees and caught her before she landed on the ground. From her body, bits of crystals started to float off from her body. Roxas looked over this phenomenon with wide eyes. "A-Are we… are we the ones who did this to you?" He asked, remembering Terra.

The black haired girl shook her head. "No. It was my choice… to go away now." She gazed at both her friend and the older male, who knelt beside the boy, as she continued, "Better that… than to do nothing… and let Xemnas have his way. I belong to Sora… and now, I am going back… to be with him."

Taking in a deep breathe, she placed her hand over her friend's, the one gripping her shoulder. "Roxas," she said, "I need you… to do me a favor… All of those that I've captured…" Her voice fails and she coughs.

"No, save your strength," Terra said, placing his hand over her other shoulder, "We'll find a way to save you."

But Xion was already shaking her head. "Please… set the hearts… from Kingdom Hearts… free…"

"Kingdom Hearts…?" Roxas softly repeated, "Free them…?"

The two males heard a strange sound, and looked towards the source, and gasped as, to their horror, Xion's feet started to turn to crystal. "W-What's happening-?"

"It's… already too late for me…" Xion breathed out, her eyes closed. "And it's too late… to undo my – our mistake. But you can't," she took in another breathe, "You can't let Xemnas… have Kingdom Hearts. You can't."

The crystals started to spread from her feet, covering her legs. She smiled at the two males. "Good-bye Roxas… one day, I'll see you again… I'm glad that I've… I've got to meet you, as well as you, Terra. Oh," she let out a weak chuckle, "and of course… Axel, as well. The three of you are my best friends…" She slowly reached her hand out and cupped the blonde's face. "Never… forget…" she closed her eyes, her smile still present, "that's the truth…"

Roxas stared at the girl for a moment, wondering how she knew him and Axel, as the crystal reached to her chest. Suddenly, he gasped, his eyes widening to a fraction. As the girl's hand fall limply from his face, he quickly grasped it. "No!" Bits of crystal floated off of her. "Xion! You can't die! Who else…" He seemed to choke on his words as tears started to well up in his eyes. "Who else would be my friend?"

Yet it seemed to be too late. Xion's entire body is soon covered in crystal. Then, before their eyes, she disintegrated, her remains floating into the air. Soon, Xion is gone…

…Leaving behind a small yellow/pink seashell where she once was. Roxas fingered the small object, a strange feeling formed in his chest as he recalled what had happened. And of what he had done.

The boy clenched the shell as tears ran down his cheeks. "Xion…"

Terra kept his eyes on Roxas, seeing just how much emotion the boy is expressing. Even if the boy IS an incomplete shell, he knew the look the Nobody has on his face.

It's a look… of a person who had just lost everything.

He knew exactly how the boy felt, since eleven years ago. And… he felt, _horrified_ by what he had done. But why did Xion do this? Why did she look so peaceful in death?

_Why couldn't he hold the tears back?_

Deep down, he knew the answer. He felt the horrible pain of loss, similar to what he had felt when he learned of what had happened to his friends…

…and of seeing his master – no, the only man he had felt close to a father – dying, and vanishing before his eyes.

He slowly turned to the boy, and reached out his hand. "Roxas-"

He was cut off when Roxas suddenly threw himself at the older brunette, and _wailed_ over his shoulder, openly crying as he held him. Terra, feeling a bit awkward yet stunned by what he was seeing, lax a bit, before he held the boy and rubbed his back. This time, he let the tears run down his cheeks.

The two stayed like that for a few moments, when Roxas pulled away, rubbed his eyes and stood up. Then turned away and started to walk. "Hey, wait, where are you going?" The older male stood up quickly and tried to stop the boy.

"I… I have to go back and fulfill Xion's dying wish," the boy's answer stopped the brunette in his tracks. "Maybe… Maybe if I do that, then I could find out who Sora is, and bring her back."

"You're seriously going to do that?" Terra asked, trying to reason with him, "What you're going to do is around the boundaries of suicide!" And besides, doesn't the Nobody realize how powerful Kingdom Hearts is?

"If I'm not able to do that, then," the boy cut himself off, and shook his head. "Why do you care? I'm a Nobody; an empty shell!" He turned to Terra and the brunette flinched when he saw the glare the boy was giving him – and he was instantly reminded that the boy isn't Ventus.

"I'm going there to fulfill her last wish, even die trying," the boy continued, "And I'll do it for her, even if _you_ won't!" He then ran off down the slope that leads to the Market Street of Twilight Town.

"Wait, Roxas!" The brunette exclaimed, reaching out for him. But the boy was already gone. The older male stood there for a moment before he lowered his hand (the song fades out).

He sighed. Never before had he been at a loss; the first time was when he found out that the master had sent Aqua to watch him. And that made him believe that Xehanort is the only one he could trust; besides Ven of course. Yet that only lead to his downfall.

But as he thought about what happened earlier, something strikes him as odd. Why did Xion tell them to not let Xemnas have Kingdom Hearts? He remembered that Naminé told him that the Organization's goal is to regain their hearts. Sure it's true that Kingdom Hearts has unlimited power…

Does Xemnas have something else in mind?

Then there's a matter of what happened to Roxas after they defeated Xion. Did the boy honestly – and suddenly – forgot about her? What the hell? Come to think of it, Xion _is_ made up of Sora's memories…

"I need to talk to Naminé about this…" He muttered to himself, looking outward towards the town.

In truth, he rather not go through town. He needed to get to Naminé, and fast.

Fortunately, he had a perfect solution.

He changed his Keyblade into a Glider, and took off to the woods. He hopes he could find some answers to what's going on.

**TO BE CONTINUED…**

* * *

Special:

_Learned Command Style: _Faith of Light

**Harnessing your inner light, you can move as fast as the light itself. (Basically, its Terra's only high-speed Command Style that I've just came up.) Activated by using Surge-based, Light-based, or Sonic Blade commands after one of the first tier Command Style is activated. As he attacks, he occasionally teleports, does two random swings (either heavy or quick), then teleports once more to repeat the process; at the end of the combo, he creates a burst of light around himself, knocking back or defeating most enemies within the blast. The finisher consists of Terra summoning pillars of light that appear around him in a hexagonal shape before they shot out all around him, hitting multiple enemies around him.**

* * *

**Oh my god! This took over a YEAR to type this up! I'm so sorry, but this chapter has been fighting with me! WAH!**

**Err… I have no idea what the next chapter is going to be like. But I think that it'll be… epic.**

**Review please! …Although most of you must be pissed about how late I was… Please forgive me!**


	11. NOT an update

Sorry everyone, but I've lost my drive for this story. I had a good plan for it but…with Dream Drop Distance – it's now a complete wreck. I have no idea what to do with it now – also it confused even ME. So…um, don't kill me but this story is now dead.

I had an idea for the sequel, I intend it for to be a trilogy…but now the plan is moot at this point.

I DO have another idea, however. One day, I'll post it up but until then…yeah.

Again, I'm sorry. It's been fun…but the fun stops here.


End file.
